The Entrepreneurs: David Spencer-Percival, founder of Rosemary Water
We joined Coutts to ask the entrepreneur what inspired his innovative drinks business
Words: Gentleman's Journal
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In a special interview created with Coutts, we asked entrepreneur David Spencer-Percival what inspired his innovative drinks business. We met with him during ‘Coutts Entrepreneur Month’- a special time of the year which brings together the UK’s brightest and boldest go-getters. Here’s David’s story – a self-made innovator with a thirst to succeed, literally…
If you don’t know the name Rosemary Water you’ve almost certainly seen its adverts in a glossy magazine. Striking black and white images of unusual models, such as Caroline Labouchere, stare out of the page, the freshness of their faces standing in stark contrast to the greying hair which gives away their true age.
It’s an effective campaign for a brand founded solely around the anti-aging benefits of rosemary. “My wife and I were reading an article about this relatively unassuming but quite fascinating village called Acciaroli,” explains David Spencer-Percival, founder of Rosemary Water. “In the newspaper it was quite sensational. It said, “Want to live to 100? Eat rosemary.”
"Everyone has an idea about how to run your business"
Upon further investigation it became clear that Spencer-Percival could never eat enough rosemary to match the inhabitants of the small Italian village but he could, he thought, drink it. This Spencer-Percival explains, is how it all began, “The stark realisation that no-one had made a drink with rosemary extract in was the little spark in me that though, ‘Hold on a minute, there’s something here.’”
Containing no sugar, salt, colours or preservatives, each bottle of still or sparkling No1 Rosemary Water is made with 2% fresh rosemary extract and ph7.5 spring water, making it the perfect companion to healthy modern lifestyles. Its elegant glass packaging also pre-empted the plastic backlash and offers the ideal alternative for eco-conscious consumers.
“Everyone has an idea about how to run your business,” says Percival-Spencer about the day-to-day pressures of entrepreneurship. “You’ve just got to have a single-minded thought that you’re doing it right otherwise you just get distracted. Distraction costs time and money – and ultimately it costs success. The ability to say you have achieved something from nothing is what motivates me.”
Coutts offers a personal and bespoke approach to private banking and wealth management, and has been a partner to history makers and change makers for over three centuries. For more information about how Coutts supports entrepreneurs today, please click here.
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