My first million: Amir Chen, Apostrophe

Amir Chen reveals why he turned his back on a successful career in banking in order to bring Parisienne cafe culture to the streets of London.

After five minutes with Amir Chen, it becomes clear that an investment banker's life is not always a happy one. It may be a well-paid, exciting career but advising entrepreneurs isn't the same as being one. "It's not really getting to the meat of it," says the Israeli-born head of caf chain Apostrophe. So when in 2002 he got the opportunity to advise a group of friends who had opened their own little caf chain a year earlier, it seemed the perfect time to turn his back on a "lifestyle that was quite tiring and all consuming".

Modelled on a traditional French patisserie, Apostrophe's original aim was to bring a bit of Parisienne caf culture to London streets. "You had your Starbucks and your Coffee Republic, but they lacked a strong food offering, and where you had decent food you had terrible coffee," he says. So "it was a great concept". The only problem was that "it was definitely on a loss-making track... none of the shareholders really wanted to spend the time [looking after it]". Chen offered to come in as managing director, saying, "give me a few months to run the business, let's commit to investing a certain amount of money... and by the eighth outlet I will deliver you a self-funding business."

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Jody Clarke

Jody studied at the University of Limerick and was a senior writer for MoneyWeek. Jody is experienced in interviewing, for example digging into the lives of an ex-M15 agent and quirky business owners who have made millions. Jody’s other areas of expertise include advice on funds, stocks and house prices.