- Source of Wealth: Business (The Fragrance Shop, Per-Scent and Fragrance & Beauty)
- Age: 52
- Birth Place: Uganda
- Height: 1.65 m (5′ 5″)
- Weight: 77 kg (169.76 lbs)
- Marital Status: Married (Rita Vadera)
- Full Name: Sanjay Vadera
- Nationality: British-Ugandan
- Date of Birth: June 1967
- Ethnicity: Ugandan
- Occupation: Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Fragrance Shop, Per-Scent and Fragrance & Beauty
- Education: Manchester Polytechnic University
- Children: 2 (Dylan and Viyan)
Self-made millionaire Sanjay Vadera has an estimated net worth of $11 million. He was born in Uganda but lives in Bolton, Lancashire. He was five years old when his family moved to England as refugees from Uganda in 1972 to escape the regime of dictator Idi Amin.
Vadera and his family had to leave everything behind, especially the good life they had in Uganda and arrived in Britain with nothing. He went to Manchester Polytechnic where he studied computer science and physics. While he was in his second year, he had to work part-time in a menswear shop. There he met a fragrance wholesaler who invited him to work as a sales representative. Since he was not really enjoying his degree, he grabbed the opportunity to sell fragrance on a full-time basis and worked with the wholesaler for six months. In 1990, he decided to set up his own business in Manchester and named it Per-Scent.
At 43, Vadera initially became a supplier of wholesale fragrances to small retailers before winning contracts with mass-market firms. He sold 65% of his stake to an outside investor in 2005, netting about £42m. In 2006, he bought the Fragrance Shop, with outlets across the UK, for £20m. He holds at least 20 company directorships, and in 2009-10, two operations, Cartoon (Holdings) and Per-Scent, together made a £10.5m profit on £106m sales. The family’s stake in these is uncertain, but there are other assets.