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I feel sad,” says Lady Astor, referring to OKA, the luxury interiors retailer she founded in 1999.
I feel sad,” says Lady Astor, referring to OKA, the luxury interiors retailer she founded in 1999.
The company entered administration in the US and a voluntary arrangement in the UK this summer.
Lady Astor – Annabel – mother of Samantha Cameron, wife of former Prime Minister David Cameron, no longer had shares in the company and had left the board of directors, after selling it to the Italian private equity group Invest Industrial, which bought a stake for the first time. time in 2018.
‘I’m someone who never looks back. We move on to the next thing.’
At 76 years old, he intends to start another business, although he has not yet decided which one.
But I need to see what’s in the budget before taking any action. I am concerned about taxes and whether they will encourage small business growth. Uncertainty acts as a brake for companies.
‘In the pre-elections, Labor wasn’t too scary. But for parents with children in private schools – for many people that is all they want for a child – it is very worrying,” he says, referring to the Government’s imposition of VAT on school fees.
The general mood, he says, “is depressing,” and the feeling of sadness discourages people from buying. ‘I certainly think people are holding back, including me. “I’m being careful in terms of food shopping and I love food shopping.”
I met Lady Astor at the Browns Hotel in London, a beautiful if noisy place. Looking like a slightly older version of Samantha, she is kindness personified, even when I make an embarrassing mess serving tea.
Relationships: Lady Astor is the mother of Samantha Cameron, wife of David Cameron
Although I’m here to talk about her life as a businesswoman, of course I can’t resist questioning her about politics.
Did Sam care when David returned to government after the stress of the Brexit referendum psychodrama that brought him down?
“No, because he had that wonderful time after they left Downing Street just enjoying what he was doing in his own right,” she says, talking about Cefinn, her fashion brand.
‘David just kept busy and optimistic. I don’t think Samantha ever liked the scrutiny in Downing Street, I think it made her very nervous. She and Samantha talk a lot about business, she says.
‘She and I like to make clothes; We are both clever people. She is an incredible painter and draftsman.
‘She learned to cut clothes when she was in Number 10. She was determined what she was going to do when they left Downing Street.
‘She used to come and help me in my jewelery business, Annabel Jones, she designed my note paper and my jewelery boxes when I was a teenager.
“I used to keep my purse very empty to encourage my kids to work, you have to.”
Lady Astor says she misses OKA, having resigned earlier this year after disagreeing with Invest Industrial over the speed of US expansion.
He remained on the board after the 2018 sale but resigned when the Italians rejected his proposal to lead a management buyout.
‘They had their ideas and what they tried to do was brilliant. “It just wouldn’t have gone that fast,” he says.
Some may wonder why you would bother starting a business, much less a new one in your eighth decade.
Her first husband, Samantha’s father, was the landowner and baronet Sir Reginald Sheffield.
She now lives at Ginge Manor, a 17th-century Oxfordshire country house with her second husband, William Waldorf Astor III, the 4th Viscount Astor.
Annabel had a second daughter, Emily Sheffield, former editor of the Evening Standard, with Sir Reginald, and has three more adult children with William.
She is the daughter of Pandora Clifford, a society beauty, and Timothy Angus Jones, son of the novelist and playwright Enid Bagnold. The latter’s most famous work was National Velvet, a novel turned into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor.
But, as a young man, he started his own business because he needed money.
‘I didn’t have the financial backing to be able to live without earning money and I wasn’t smart enough to be a teacher or nurse.
‘I grew up in a world that seemed very pre-war. My parents didn’t care about money, my father was a scholar, my mother was very beautiful, a very good decorator. All the women around me worked.
My family was very comfortable, but we had no money to spend. So if I wanted to have my own life, eat in a restaurant, or buy purple suede boots, I had to make money.
‘It was the sixties and it was incredible in London. There was no pressure and it was wonderful. Before that, in the years after the war, everything was grey, there was smog and the food was horrible. It made me want something different. In OKA there is color and a lot of joy in life.’
He created OKA 25 years ago. At first, he worked in a barn at his home, which was used to store imported goods. She remembers having to unload a container of produce from a truck herself.
Her strengths, she says, are “merchandising and I am good at analyzing data.” I have an eye on profit margin and cash.
‘I would say to anyone starting a business to make sure you pay yourself. I’m not saying huge amounts, but pay yourself. And monitor working capital every day.’
Her first business was a jewelery store in London’s Knightsbridge, Annabel Jones. He created it in 1967, when he was only 19 years old, and directed it for 33 years.
‘These were women who bought jewelry. At that time that was a great advance because until then they gave you jewelry. I had a great lifestyle from it, but a business shouldn’t stagnate and I got to a point where I thought I didn’t know how to take it further, so I sold it.’
As well as her own businesses, she worked as a consultant for Next and for stationery brand Smythsons, where Samantha worked during the holidays and later became creative director.
She is, she says, fascinated by the details of how retailers get products into their stores and the complexities of supply chains.
‘I love logistics. I used to look at Tesco and Sainsbury’s – they are very advanced in their understanding of how to place products on their shelves. I thought, why can’t those principles be brought from supermarkets to everyday businesses?
‘When you have had a life as a child in which you moved a lot, you want security. There is something about the neatness of the numbers that is comforting.
Business, he admits, can be stressful, but retirement is not on his radar.
‘I’m not sure what I want to do next, but I don’t want to retire. I believe that one does not retire, one only has one life. If you can, why should you ever stop?’
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