Sir Stuart Rose, the former Marks & Spencer boss, has added chairman of the mobile technology business Mobile Money Network to his growing portfolio of interests.
Last year Rose announced he was joining the advisory board of Bridgepoint, the private equity firm that owns the Pret A Manger food chain and the Fat Face clothing brand.
Rose has been mooted as a possible chairman of both Formula One and the online group The Hut, which operates websites for other retailers. He has bought a stake in the The Hut, which is run by chief executive Matthew Moulding and John Gallemore, who have both worked as executives for John Caudwell, the mobile phone billionaire.
The M&S veteran is also a member of the Office for National Statistics panel tasked with delivering David Cameron's goal of measuring "happiness".
Mobile Money Network (MNN) is a joint venture between the Carphone Warehouse owner Best Buy Europe and mobile payment group Monitise. Lord Davies of Abersoch, the former boss of Standard Chartered bank, is also joining the board as a non-executive director. Other board members include Charles Dunstone, the Carphone Warehouse founder.
MMN aims to cash in on demand for mobile shopping or "m-commerce", with experts predicting that more consumers will connect to the internet via mobiles than desktop PCs within five years. The trend is being driven by smartphone sales, with ownership growing at 70% a year and three-quarters of UK consumers expected to own one in 18 months' time.
"The number of mobile subscribers across the globe has reached almost 5.5 billion, with 750 million in Europe," said Rose, who retired from M&S at the end of last year. "This represents a massive commercial opportunity for retailers if they can take advantage of it."
MMN will launch its first product, "simply tap", on Tuesday. The app lets consumers shop via their mobile irrespective of who their bank or network operator is. The company said it was in talks with 17 of the top 20 UK high street retailers about adopting the service.
Having registered and provided bank details, a consumer seeing a product they want in store, online or in an advert can type the product code into their phone using the app or send it via text. The product is then paid for and delivered.
