Monocle 24: The Entrepreneurs

Mark Cho is co-founder of The Armoury, a groundbreaking temple to classic menswear in Hong Kong, and co-owner of Drake’s, a highly respected UK company known for its beautiful neckties. Both brands have flourished under his watchful eye – so what lessons has he learned?

Maria Falbo tells the story of her “Made in Europe” lifestyle and leisurewear brand Copson London, inspired by skating and sun-kissed summers.

Kevin Delaney is editor in chief of ‘Quartz’, a popular digital news outlet founded five years ago. Since then it has launched ‘Quartz India’ and ‘Quartz Africa’, made a pioneering mobile app and has just published its first book. So what’s the secret to its success? Delaney joins us in the studio to share what he’s learned.

While completing a master’s degree in international development, Matt Powell realised that refugees in the UK had few employment resources helping them to integrate into society. He decided to launch Breaking Barriers, which works with corporate partners such as Thomson Reuters and Ikea to help refugees find meaningful work. Powell shares his story.

Is artificial intelligence the future of healthcare? We talk to Dr Claire Novorol, co-founder of Ada: an app designed by doctors and powered by AI that’s aiming to be your personal health companion when you’re unwell.

Inspired by her Swedish upbringing, west African heritage and vintage family photos, entrepreneur Maya Njie launched a niche independent perfume brand in east London. She tells us what lessons she’s sniffed out along the way.

In a technology industry obsessed with artificial intelligence and augmented reality, one of the most exciting sectors involves foam and springs. Start-ups are shaking up the once-sleepy sector of making and selling mattresses. But with competition through the roof, who will become the industry leader? We sit down with James Cox, co-founder of London mattress company Simba.

The story of how one UK-based team designed and built the Hummingbird: the lightest folding bike in the world.

Despite our growing eco-friendly credentials, humans still waste too much water. Malmo-based industrial designer Mehrdad Mahdjoubi has a solution: a futuristic shower designed by his clean-technology start-up Orbital Systems, which can reduce water usage by 90 per cent. It’s backed by Nasa-approved technology and the co-founder of Skype – but will this Scandinavian solution catch on around the world?

The story of Jonathan Self, co-founder of pioneering family-run start-up Honey’s Real Dog Food and author of the recently published book ‘Good Money: Become an Ethical Entrepreneur’.

Ben Farren is the founder and CEO of Spoke, a menswear brand obsessed with clothes built for fit. It sells just two styles – chinos and shorts – but in a huge range sizes. The products are sold online, directly to the customer. But what are the promises and pitfalls of the model? Farren walks us through the company’s story.

Abe Burmeister is co-founder of the New York-based clothing brand Outlier. Abe was once a freelance graphic designer looking for a better pair of pants. When he couldn’t find any he decided to make them himself. He and his co-founder now run a cult-favourite brand whose mission is to build the future of clothing. Abe shares the Outlier story.

We share top lessons learned from guests of ‘The Entrepreneurs’ in the first half of 2017.

Zoe Partridge is the founder of Wear The Walk, a new London start-up that allows users to rent curated pieces of fashion from an online library. Unlike its competitors it shuns big brands to feature only new and emerging designers. Partridge tells us about the future of sustainable fashion.

Paul Brown is the founder of popular healthy-food start-up BOL Foods, whose bestselling products included meat and fish until the company relaunched this summer as a plant-based brand. So why the dramatic change in strategy? Will customers flock to them or flee? And what sort of planning went into the decision? Brown walks us through the company’s story.