Cameron not only loves a challenge, she relishes the opportunity to return to the frontline of the business, if only for a day.
For example, Cameron has told of a trip to the Victorian town of Hamilton for the opening of a Chickenfeed store.
Rather than drive or fly to the town ahead of the opening, Cameron insisted on taking a van full of stock, before insisting all her senior executives do the same.
This kind of attitude not only keeps Cameron grounded but helps her to better understand the various tiers within her empire.
After selling Kathmandu, Cameron re-emerged in the market as the owner of a range of retail businesses under the Retail Adventures banner, proving lightning does indeed strike twice.
But she hasn’t stopped there. In addition to her latest investment in Kathmandu rival Macpac, Cameron has bought stakes in baby goods retailer Postie Plus and children’s clothing company Pumpkin Patch.
Cameron admits her greatest satisfaction as an entrepreneur is building a good business, rather than the glamourous lifestyle it affords her.
When Cameron purchased collapsed retail group Australian Discount Retail in 2009 – along with Harris Scarfe chief executive Robert Atkins – she paid just over $100 million for the company, consisting of 350 stores in good locations.
Most importantly, Cameron managed to purchase ADR without the $200 million in debt that the previous owners were saddled with, generating reports Cameron had scored herself the bargain of the decade.
Cameron is renowned as an intensely private person who has shunned media interest in the past, yet she always seems to get her point across.
“In the past I’ve avoided media interviews – I can’t imagine what I possibly could have said of any interest or value,” she says.
What advantage does this give Cameron? When she does talk to the media, people tend to sit up and pay attention.
As one of Australia’s wealthiest women, Cameron has donated about $35 million to charity in the last four years, namely in her home state of Tasmania.
Cameron has also bankrolled the Animal Justice Fund, committing $5 million over the next five years. The fund is designed to end the factory farming of pigs and chickens.
While the scheme has angered certain sectors of the farming industry, it has also put Cameron in the spotlight once again, albeit for a different reason.
