Dame Anita Roddick, who died last night aged 64, garnered a formidable reputation as a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur as well as an environmental campaigner.

She opened her first shop in Littlehampton, West Sussex, in 1976, financed by a £4,000 bank loan while still looking after two young daughters.

Famously, this humble first Body Shop sold only 15 cruelty-free beauty products.

Success quickly followed — a second store was opened, thanks to the sale of a 22 per cent stake in the firm to Ian McGlinn, a West Sussex garage owner.

By the time Dame Anita's empire was in the thick of a £652 million takeover by the French cosmetics group L'Oreal last year — during its 30th anniversary — it had floated on the stock market and was opening stores in locations as far flung as Jordan, Russia and India.

At its height, Body Shop operated out of 2,100 branches in 55 countries, although in its latter years it was forced to retrench amid intense competition and the perception that its image had grown tired and was lacking popularity among young people.

For the year before the sale, Body Shop delivered pre-tax profts of £39.2 million, by which time Dame Anita had stepped back from the day-to-day running of the business.

She retained an 18 per cent stake worth more than £117 million at the time the sale completed.

Mr McGlinn, who held on to his stake, found that it was worth £143 million.

In typical fashion, Dame Anita pledged to donate her proceeds to charity. She had already captured headlines with a £1 million gift to Amnesty International.

Despite the success of Body Shop's listing in 1985 — and a share price that at one point valued her as Britain's fourth-wealthiest woman — Dame Anita maintained the idea that her business was not primarily about making money.

Her relationship with the City, investment bankers and financial journalists was notoriously fractious.

Dame Anita found that their desire for hard numbers interfered with her ethical vision.

She was far more comfortable launching new cruelty-free product lines and attracting free media attention with Body Shop campaigns than attending press conferences to slog through financial results.

Indeed, some observers argued that Body Shop's successful flotation paved the way for the kind of success that began to make her ethical principles feel compromised.

Dame Anita always argued that her husband, Gordon, had been the financial brains behind the business.

However, she will be remembered as much for her business acumen as for her ethical zeal.

Gordon Brown said last night: “She will be remembered not only as a great campaigner but also as a great entrepreneur.

“As one of this country’s most successful businesswomen she was an inspiration to women throughout the country striving to set up and grow their own companies.”

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