David Empson

Throughout his career in retail, David Empson has built and grown businesses by identifying new commercial opportunities, creating strategic partnerships, and delivering sustainable growth across the sector.

He started his career at M&S and later became a Director at Sainsburys. He joined the management buyout of Adams as Strategic & Business Development Director. His focus was on developing new revenue streams and identifying high-growth opportunities. Recognising Boots as a key destination for young mums and mums to be, he negotiated and launched a successful joint venture to introduce its childrenswear offer, Mini Mode. Shortly afterwards, he secured a similar partnership with Sainsbury’s, leading the launch of the TU clothing brand, which became a hugely successful fashion retailer.

Following the successful sale of both joint ventures in 2010, he established himself as an entrepreneur, launching Robbie Williams’ fashion brand, Farrell, and founding Generous APE, a destination for stylish, sustainable fashion brands.

Since then, David has worked with a wide range of retailers and consumer businesses, helping leadership teams in an iterative way to unlock growth, develop commercial strategies, and realise their ambitions. Today, as a Business Growth Adviser at Elephants Child, he support ambitious retail businesses and brands to scale.

Away from work, he enjoys a ‘quasi-retirement’, playing tennis, sailing, and “living every day as if it’s my last”.