Expat entreprenur and fod reoutionary


It’s not every day that you meet someone with the profile and accomplishments of Renée Elliott and find her or him so affable and easy-going. People who have revolu- tionised something fundamental in our lives, in her case the way we shop for food and what we eat, often run the risk of ap- pearing more rarefied and slightly unap- proachable. But not Renée who in 1995 opened the doors to the very first Planet Organic, the ground-breaking chain of su- permarkets dedicated to healthy living. We easily ran over our allotted time for the in- terview and frequently veered away from the topic of her experience as an expat entrepreneur and innovator and into the common ground in our respective lives. Tis approachability and easy manner is no doubt one of the keys to her success. Like many, Renée’s expat experience


started unintentionally when she was a 20- year-old student from Massachusetts trav- elling around Europe in the middle of university studies. In fact, it’s by sheer luck that she ended up in London at all as she says it wasn’t where she initially planned to be. “I came to Europe with my sister and friend, and we went to Paris. I didn’t want to be in London because it didn’t seem for- eign enough!” she jokes. But they did come to London and it was a night bus journey from the West End to east London, where she was staying, that changed everything. “We had been in a club until late that night. It was cold and there was no Underground so we took the night bus. Te door opened after one stop and in stepped a tall, dark and handsome man. I’ve been with him for 33 years now.” After returning to finish university in the


US and realising that the relationship with the man from the bus, Brian, was more than a holiday romance, Renée headed back to London. “I got a job but needed a work permit,” she explains and before long she and Brian were husband and wife. “I came over for a boy. I thought it would just be for a few years.” Tose years ticked by with a glamorous stint working as a journalist on a Wine & Spirit magazine, a


8 FOCUS The Magazine September/October 2018 www.focus-info.org


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40