Monocle 24: The Entrepreneurs

Marco Abele is the founder and CEO of Tend, a Zürich-based digital platform focused on “life-enriching investment”. Driven by blockchain, Tend allows investment in luxury assets through co-ownership, such as shares in high-end sports cars, homes, vineyards and whiskey collections. Abele’s track record in finance means he knows how to create wealth for his clients – and now he’s launched a platform to encourage them to enjoy investment.

Jo Malone CBE made her name – quite literally – as the eponymous entrepreneur behind her iconic perfume brand. A sensation in the 1990s, Malone later sold the brand to cosmetics giant Estée Lauder Companies. While she stayed on as creative director, she eventually left the business for good in 2006. On this week’s episode, Malone talks us through how she dealt with selling a company that bore her name and explains how she built her second global fragrance brand Jo Loves.

Apollonia Poilâne is a third-generation baker and CEO of the Poilâne bakery brand. While she was encouraged by her father to explore the world and pursue her passions, it’s in the bakehouse where she has always felt most at home, carrying on her family’s tradition. Under her guidance since 2002, the eponymous company has grown steadily – there are now bakery locations across Paris and London, and the brand’s staple thick-crust sourdough bread can be found in hundreds of French restaurants and in more than 1,500 food retailers around the world.

While on a summer break from university in Glasgow, keen cyclist Alec Farmer taught himself to sew. Setting out to craft the perfect bag, Farmer used discarded materials that he found around the city: and soon Trakke was born. It’s now a well-known maker of waxed-canvas bags and travel accessories that are inspired by Scotland’s rugged landscapes and designed to last a lifetime. Read more on Alec Farmer and Trakke's design philosophy: [https://trakke.co.uk/](https://trakke.co.uk/)

The son of an engineer and an artist, Ashley Watson has always had an understanding of both form and function. He spent years working as a designer before deciding to combine two of his great passions: clothing and motorbikes. In 2014 Ashley launched his eponymous brand, focusing on high-quality motorcycle clothing made in England with a meticulous attention to design and detail.

In 2009 Charles Armstrong launched The Trampery, the first co-working space to take root in Shoreditch, a district of east London that has since become crowded with shared workspaces catering to the area’s creative and entrepreneurial communities. Over the past nine years, Charles has grown the brand and opened more properties across the capital. But he is now in the process of completing a project on a far grander scale. The Trampery Fish Island Village is a new mixed-use development in Hackney Wick, which will include London’s largest dedicated campus for emerging fashion labels.

Intrigued by style and craftsmanship, Phoebe Gormley started making her own clothes at a young age, and at just 15 began interning in London’s Savile Row and Jermyn Street, known for high-end men’s tailors. After two years studying costume design at university, Phoebe told her parents she would take the money earmarked for her final year of tuition to start her own venture. Launched in 2015, Gormley & Gamble became the first women’s only tailor in the history of Savile Row.

Dave Dawson trained as a lawyer but never had much love for the legal profession and always harboured a desire to one day start his own design company. That day arrived in 2003 when he decided to quit his day job and launch the Urban Electric Company, a lighting brand based in Charleston, South Carolina. For the past 15 years the brand has built a name for itself for its robust yet elegant lighting fixtures. The company now employs more than 200 people.

Shane Clifford is CEO of Wonderbill, a digital platform that organises your household bills while also suggesting other providers that could save you money. Just two years old, the platform now has 50,000 users across the UK and has plans to expand to new markets across Europe in the new year.

Edinburgh-based fashion designer Kestin Hare worked with a number of labels including Nigel Cabourn and Burberry before launching his eponymous label in 2014. The brand now has two shops, one in Shoreditch and one in the Leith area of the Scottish capital. Made in the UK, the styles are a nod to the working-class roots of his native Leith and are quickly changing the perception of Scottish design. Kestin’s wife Gemma worked with Harvey Nichols before taking over brand, marketing and strategy for her husband’s label.

When bespoke tailoring fell short of his expectations, former Goldman Sachs banker John Buni launched Tailor Made London. The company uses high-precision body scanners to map customers’ bodies and create a perfect fit.

Brendan Murdock made his name as the founder of well-designed barbershops, which he called Murdock London. The brand was right at the forefront of a wave of new spots catering to men who care about their appearance and are willing to pay good money for smart grooming products. But Murdock has since left that eponymous firm to set up a more intriguing company: a health-and-wellness brand called Anatomē. Now he’s in the business of advising customers on their wellbeing and recommending vitamins, supplements and essential oils. The brand also has a flagship store in Shoreditch.

Craig Elbert is the co-founder and CEO of Care/of, a direct-to-consumer brand that specialises in vitamins and supplements. Care/of makes understanding what to buy and what to take simple, while giving customers access to research on vitamins. Founded in New York in 2016 by Elbert and Akash Shah, the company has recommended vitamins and supplements to more than one million people.

Launched in London in 2004, Rapha sets the benchmark for premium cycling wear. Its 22 shops-cum-cafés around the world act as community hubs for cyclists, selling performance and streetwear as well as skincare, self-produced films and an in-house magazine; it also provides luxury travel experiences. We met Simon Mottram, the founder and CEO.

Kevin Glynn and David Nolan are best friends, former Goldman Sachs bankers and now co-founders of Butternut Box: a company that creates fresh, delicious dog food and delivers it direct to customers. Since starting the business two years ago, they have served up one million meals to happy pooches across the land and just raised £5m (€5.6m) for expansion.