Talking Business with Alan Kohler: Recent Episodes
Qantas
Talking Business is an inflight entertainment radio program on Qantas, hosted by Alan Kohler. Each month business leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators are interviewed about their expertise, businesses, and careers. This is where you can podcast all of the guests from Talking Business.
Fred is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, most famous for co-founding Australia's leading personal finance comparison website Finder. With business partner, Frank Restuccia, the pair bootstrapped Finder in 2006 and grew the business to be worth about $250 million, operating in 83 countries, seeing 10 million unique visitors each month – all with no funding! Fred spearheaded the group's venture capital arm, Finder Ventures, to launch new business ideas. The first was a cryptocurrency brokerage, HiveEx.com, which traded $100 million in its first year. More recently, Fred is led the Finder App launch on February 2, 2020, which is an Australian-first that will connect your bank accounts and automatically compare products for you. Fred speaks at events around the world, is a regular media commentator and columnist, and launched a startup community called The Disruptors' Club.Fred talks about his journey, challenges and learnings from building startups without funding, growth hacking, brand, culture, being bold, innovation & the finder App..
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Insync Network Group is an Australian-based community of returned expats. A recent study found that the majority of Australia's returning expats struggle to re-settle in Australia, which is one of the reasons why this community was started three years ago. Since, it has grown to cover three cities (Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane). Margot is an expert in career and leadership management, who also lived and worked in London for 7 years. Upon returning to Australia, Margot noticed that re-settling at 'home' was more challenging than she had anticipated and underestimated the need to both translate international experience in the local Australian market, and re-integrate socially and emotionally in her home country. These are common challenges faced by many returning expats, which continues long after the jet-lag subsides. She also discusses her ‘Talentinsight Australia’ business. ‘They work with both individuals and businesses alike and are passionate about assisting senior professionals and executives understand their true value and how they can in turn maximise both their contribution and personal fulfilment. They work with organisations to support leaders maximise their own career performance so that they can in turn genuinely support the success and capability of both the business and those within their own teams’.
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Daniel is the Managing Director of Chironix which operates throughout A/NZ and the USA. He has a deep interest in artificial intelligence, space technologies, mobile robotics, human memory, cyber operations, cognitive studies & social processes. Daniel also served for two years in the Navy Strategy Executive in the Office of the Chief of Navy as the Deputy Director of Technological Solutions. Chironix’s Machine Learning and Data Engineering team provides consultancy services with significant expertise in delivering effective solutions to our clients through the process of human machine teaming. This forms a core capability from which their product arms interact. Augmenting this centralised capability are two product verticals: Robotics and wearables. The Robotics capability is focussed on autonomous field robotics performing tasks that either humans should not be doing (as we do not do them well), or roles which are dangerous too humans. The final vertical is in wearables, where they have collaborated with Google X as a foundation partner with Glass for Enterprise — the new Google Glass. Daniel is also a Research Fellow with the Perth USAsia centre where he writes on strategy (both national and military).
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The Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC) is a not-for-profit, industry-led organisation that was formed as part of the Federal Government’s Growth Centres initiatives and tasked with supporting (and advancing) Australian manufacturing in all of its forms. Part of that task was to set out the direction of the industry through research, support manufacturers (via networking/briefing events) and our online Manufacturers Academy (peer-to-peer learning), and finally, support innovative Australian manufacturers with co-funded grants (they call them projects). They are now entering the finalisation of some of these projects, many of which are or have contributed substantially to the Australian economy, grown jobs and upskilled workers along the way - all while preparing for the advent of Industry 4.0 (the fourth industrial revolution).Manufacturing is the answer is a nice simple way to encapsulate everything Jens is passionate and a good place to start the conversation’.To provide context to that statement; when you consider the following points, advanced manufacturing is the answer to the transition towards zero-low carbon future (hydrogen), Recycling issues/Circular economy, Climate change, Disaster relief & Productivity.
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PT Blink is a technology platform that enables multi-storey developments to be built very quickly, via its unique Design, Manufacture & Integrate (DMI) process. It is a quantum leap for the Property Development Market. The open nature of the PT Blink DMI Platform encourages a local community of participants that bring expertise in specific areas. From structural design to interior and exterior component design (facades, glazing, bathrooms modules, etc) through to manufacture, the platform is designed to accommodate multiple stakeholders in a collaborative ‘design to manufacture’ process. Murray, who is also a governor of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering at Sydney University, has developed scalable building technology using a patented steel structural backbone strengthened using post-tensioned steel cables. The components are all manufactured and stressed off site, with reinforcement, fire collars and services included. The solutions do not rely on the lift core for stability empowering much faster outcomes. While PT Blink is a start-up, it’s been three decades in the making. Murray has worked around the world on large and complex projects. He developed post-tensioned steel technology for long-spanning projects like stadiums and aircraft hangars and recognised the potential for multi-storey construction. Physically the backbone is made from post-tensioned steel in a factory, no matter how tall or wide the development. The platform forms the incredibly accurate motherboard for each approved manufacturer. They provide their manufacturing model onto the blink platform, together with cost, delivery time and quality attributes. At the heart of PT Blink’s process is an innovative delivery method – design, manufacture and assemble or DMA – which is safer, more accurate, faster and cheaper.
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Greg has been involved in the development, financing and operation of large infrastructure projects, particularly energy generation, for over 25 years. Initially he was involved in conventional energy generation and transmission followed by renewable energy projects including; Biomass projects in Queensland, Wind projects in Australia & Solar projects in Europe,
He discusses GreenPrinz.com a Carbon Offset Digital Platform for corporations providing not just the carbon offset to attain ESG targets but also a financial return paid monthly from acquiring an interest in the solar farm. In essence the Platform democratizes involvement in the Renewable Energy revolution & enables investment in a solar farm which provides ownership of a commensurate amount of the Green Energy produced which in turn provides a carbon offset for the use of fossil fuels, such as for electricity and transport. This Carbon Offset reduces each customer’s Carbon Footprint and will assist in meeting corporate sustainability targets and ESG and CSR goals. In addition the customers of the Platform receive a dividend from the solar farm of 5% pa, paid quarterly. Furthermore the interest owned in the solar farm acts as a hedge against rising electricity prices.
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Neville Vincent is Vice President, South Asia Pacific at enterprise cloud and hyperconverged infrastructure leader Nutanix. An industry veteran, Vincent is a senior entrepreneurial sales leader with more than 20 years’ experience across the Asia Pacific. He joined Nutanix in August 2018 and is focused on changing the nature of organisations’ IT environments for the better. Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) is the company’s bread and butter and they tell that story through the lens of solving business and tech challenges. HCI isn’t a well-known topic to many business leaders in Australia and Asia – but Nutanix believes it’s a vital part of solving some of businesses’ key challenges this decade. These include avoiding disruption from competitors and data security / sovereignty. We’ve all seen the Ubers and the Airbnbs of the world and what they’ve done, quite quickly, to long-standing incumbents and even entire industries. Advancements in technology and the speed at which new competitors can gain a foothold and undo companies is now a threat for every business. To avoid disruption and companies need to be able to disrupt themselves and move faster. That’s where HCI comes in.
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Chargefox, a technology driven business that’s simplifying electric vehicle charging and management across fleet, private and public networks. Chargefox is constructing Australia’s largest, open ultra-rapid EV charging network and by the end of 2019, its public network will allow EV owners to drive from Adelaide to Cairns without any long charging stops. Prior to this Marty founded Cogent, a Melbourne born business focused on using strategy, design and development to help founders and teams turn great ideas into thriving digital businesses. With over a decade of experience building software for some of Australia’s most successful online businesses, Marty has helped bring countless digital products to life. When he’s not busy playing semi-professional pool, Marty invests in promising Australian startups and speaks about the technology needed to support the growing number of electric vehicles on our roads. Marty is “committed to making EV charging simple, fast and clean, and are thrilled to be leading the way in making this a reality for all Australians” The establishment of a nationwide electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging network within the next five years has been identified as a national high priority initiative by Australia’s infrastructure auditing and advisory body.
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Dr. King is a specialist Radiation Oncologist, founder of Tobacco Free Portfolios, a former elite swimmer and Team Doctor for the Australian Swimming Team. Social entrepreneur, movement maker and a globally renowned humanitarian on a mission to inspire and transform organisations into purpose driven and sustainable businesses. Some of the first patients Bronwyn cared for at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre were suffering from lung cancer. However, while doing her best to treat these people, Bronwyn was unaware she was also supporting the global production of cigarettes. It was only during a meeting with a representative of her superannuation fund in 2010 that Bronwyn learned some of her money was flowing to tobacco companies through the default option of her superannuation fund. In the knowledge that many of her colleagues would be similarly unhappy with their unwitting investment in the tobacco industry, Bronwyn approached First State Super which had shortly before merged with Health Super. Following numerous meetings and a presentation to the Board, First State Super undertook a detailed analysis of the issue and in 2012, proudly made the decision to go tobacco free. Bronwyn is delighted with the willingness of the finance industry to engage and act on this issue. The work of the Tobacco Free Portfolios now has a global focus. She discusses the Stamp of Approval Program that now replaces the old Tobacco Free Portfolios Verified Tobacco Free program. The initiative now has an extensive global reach with Tobacco Free Portfolios working with 100+ pension funds, Sovereign Wealth funds, banks, insurers and fund managers in twenty countries. Bronwyn has received countless awards in recognition of her outstanding expertise and accomplishments. Most notably, she was awarded an Order of Australia (AO) in 2019 for distinguished service to community health and named 2019 Melburnian of the Year.
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Founded in 2017, Hearth provides high-quality support services for people with a disability, with a focus on people with more complex disabilities. Today, the Melbourne-based business employs more than 250 staff. The types of support services Hearth provides its customers (or ‘participants’) with include flexible in-home support (assisting participants with their mobility, personal hygiene tasks and grooming, meal preparation and mealtime assistance, the use of aids and equipment); rehabilitation support (TAC); and assistance with community access. Prior to starting Hearth, Justin had a successful corporate career working in senior finance roles for organisations including Telstra, Cadbury Schweppes and Carlton United Breweries. However, as a father and disability carer to his 13-year-old son who is living with Cerebral Palsy, Justin chose to leave the corporate world and commit his professional life to establishing Hearth. As he says: “I observed a sharp contrast in worlds; a corporate world focused on customer service and a world in disability that clearly wasn’t focused on the customer or the services our family needed.” Given this disparity and his family’s experience, Justin set about creating a business that would enable people like his son to live their best life.
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Carla's business is known as a venue finder. Big businesses go to her to find out where they should host their events, conference, meetings. The website covers venues and meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE). The regional conferencing solution allows conference organisers to select a region and add suppliers they like to a wish list before receiving all the suppliers' details in a checklist format in their inbox. Organisers then contact each supplier directly, maintaining control of their event at all times. The streamlining saves an estimated 10 to 15 hours of planning and research. She is from NSW’s Southern Highlands and advocates for practical bushfire recovery. She discusses working hard to promote fire affected regions to attract business trade back into the areas. The hotels and venues suffered major cancellations and they are really struggling & there is a need to provide real economic support for the local ‘mid-week’ economy. Carla explains which areas are ready for business, the flow-on effects of conferencing in regions and why this is one of the easiest ways to meet your company's CSR goals for the year.
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Adrian is the CEO for Standards Australia, the nation’s peak standards development body. Established over 100 years ago, Standards Australia ensures everything from sunscreen to energy grids and cyber security has a certified standard.
Throughout his time with Standards, Adrian has witnessed a major shift in emerging industries and businesses who are are seeking to innovate and implement new technologies, specifically artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence has been an area of interest for Standards Australia - how does one measure, monitor and implement a standard on such a complex field? What sort of powers do Standards Australia have to implement & enforce these standards? Standards Australia is the nation’s peak standards development body, developing Australian standards to support and create value for Australian businesses Standards Australia has been making Australian communities safer since 1922, helping our economy grow and connecting our nation to the world for almost 100 years They bring together experts across a range of fields, who provide their expertise and capabilities to create Australian Standards which help industries work safely, sustainably and more effectively They work with industries all across the country, connecting the right people with technology and the solutions to innovate and improve their work Standards are important. They keep people safe and ensure things work Standards Australia makes a positive impact by developing standards that cover products, processes and services that people use every day Standards Australia assists businesses and industries when they are seeking to innovate and implement new technologies Standards Australia ensures things work, by setting a quality benchmark for a range of products, processes and services
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Jean-Christophe (JC) de Beaulieu joined the business in February as Head of Investments, Australia and Zhe Chen joined late last year as Associate Portfolio Manager, Research. Acadian Australia is wholly-owned by Acadian Asset Management LLC (collectively, Acadian). Acadian Asset Management LLC is a U.S. SEC-registered investment management firm based in Boston. The investment team in Australia is part of the broader global team and tailors Acadian’s quantitative investment process to manage Australian equities strategies. JC leads the local investment team that runs a range of long only and long/short systematic Australian equity strategies, and he will have both portfolio management and research responsibilities.
Prior to joining Acadian, JC was the Managing Director of the active emerging market equity portfolio management team at State Street Global Advisors. In this role, JC drove the top-down and bottom-up research agenda while managing a global team of investment professionals. JC also represented active long only, long short emerging, and frontier equity strategies with clients and consultants. He has a strong quantitative background, and - importantly for the ongoing development of the Acadian business in Australia - extensive experience of running a team that tailors a global systematic possess for regional and country portfolios.
Acadian is not a passive / index investor, not your traditional active manager. Rather it is a systematic manager that looks at up to 90 factors to determine where to invest. And it reviews those factors daily. These factors range from macro-economic, to stock/asset specific through to ESG.
This enables Acadian to compare assets of different types – equities, fixed income, etc and how to develop multi-asset portfolios through to specific ones like income-generating portfolios. Broadly discusses low rates, increased uncertainty & what's next for investors.
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Mazuma Mobile are the UK and Australia’s largest and most recognised independent Mobile Phone trade in company and has bought and sold over five million USED Mobile phones, tablets and smart devices. To date the bulk of those have been from UK consumers however, Australian businesses are now capitalising and cashing in by unlocking value from their unwanted tech as Businesses Trade In Smart phones, tablet PC’s and Tech through Mazuma Mobile as businesses look to get more out of their budget and onto their bottom line.
Mazuma offer a quick and easy to use service to Businesses and the General public to trade in their unwanted Phones and Tech for cash through our accredited on line service. They then refurbish or remanufacture those devices and now also resell them through recognised partners and directly to businesses and consumers.
Australia has more old phones stored away than there are people in the country – that equates to two for every household, and that figure is rising. By 2028, it is predicted that Australians will be holding onto nearly 30 million old mobile phones.
Mazuma was recognised as starting the “Circular economy” and reuse best practices generating revenue from reuse as a private start-up commercial business without grants or sponsorship. HRH The Prince of Wales in his 2015 speech at Cambridge university named “Rewiring the Economy” where HRH used Mazuma’s Global activity as an example of excellence in working differently to create wealth from perceived waste.
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MOVUS is a Brisbane company that develops and provides an intelligent device that monitors the condition of industrial equipment. The MOVUS FitMachine is attached to industrial machinery and uses a sensor to monitor the machine’s vibration, temperature and acoustics. It sends an alert, using artificial intelligence, at the first detection of machinery malfunction, saving business owners’ valuable time and money. The hockey puck shaped sensor is called FitMachine, which is described as a 'FitBit' for heavy equipment, mainly found in manufacturing. It simply attaches itself magnetically to machines. FitMachine works by combining AI technology/algorithms to 'teach' itself (machine learning) once it is attached to equipment.
Since its inception in 2015, the company has grown to 25 full-time staff and has moved to a new office in Spring Hill. Along the way, the company has been supported by several government grants and was also a finalist at the 2018 Lord Mayor’s Business Awards. He says: ‘Employees are very much at the heart of everything we do,” says Brad. 'One of the most unexpected benefits of owning a small business in Brisbane is building a top-notch team; Brisbane has become such a vibrant, diverse and multicultural city over the past 20 years.’
He says the biggest challenge is educating the market. Because he says the product is so unique and innovative, we need to educate the industry, prospects and clients. MOVUS has a great board of advisors, comprised of accomplished and experienced professionals with lots of business and industry experience.
His purpose is in "fixing the planet, one sensor at a time". By this, he means to try and keep machines maintained and running for as long as possible, to delay or prevent them from becoming industrial/electrical waste. Thus trying to make a sustainable contribution which also is financially beneficial to businesses because they're not having to replace parts or can avoid costly shut downs in production. He is a big advocate for Made in Australia and believes this also helps to keep local talent in jobs.
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Rade was based in the USA, in Florida, and knows well the perils of natural disasters. His interests include changing population demographics and catastrophe exposure, climate change adaptation, disaster planning and modelling. He has a lot of experience with storm pathways and hurricanes, and has some insights into the bushfires disaster.
Rade has extensive experience globally, particularly in Asia Pacific (e.g. China, Southeast Asia). Previously he was Chair of the International Actuarial Association’s Resource and Environmental Working Group. He is currently a member of Actuaries Institute’s Climate Change Working Group and Co-Chair of the Institute’s Insurance Affordability Task Force. He is also Principal at Finity Consulting.
Rade is the Actuaries Institute’s spokesman on climate, and the Institute’s climate index, which measures extremes in weather every quarter. The index measures extreme weather conditions and sea levels across Australia, and how these vary over time. It was launched a little over a year ago, to show changes in the frequency, or rate of occurrence, of extreme high and low temperatures, heavy precipitation, dry days, strong winds and changes in sea levels. It is collated at the end of each season following the release of data from the BoM. The data is collected nationally and grouped into 12 climatically consistent regions. Each season is compared to the same season in previous years and against a reference period of 1981-2010.
It’s a first for Australia. From the last index release: ‘Recent events, including the devastating bushfires in multiple states, underscore how important it is to get an objective view on climate patterns. The Australian Actuaries Climate Index clearly shows extreme weather is happening more often.’
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With 30 years of experience, Ray Brown is actively involved in strategy, design, and oversight of projects, working across multiple teams in mixed-use commercial, residential, education, and cultural sectors. Sensitive to how buildings relate to their surroundings, Ray understands urban context and believes the best design solutions are underpinned by rigorous analysis and supported by open and collaborative client engagement. He advocates for design that is led by end-user perspectives to achieve commercial viability, efficiency, and civic value.
He has formed successful collaborative relationships with several prestigious international architects, most notably with acclaimed German studio Christoph Ingenhoven to co-design the multi award winning 1 Bligh Street and residential tower 505 George Street.
A conceptual and forward-thinker, Ray is skilled in identifying opportunities for innovation, especially in the areas of sustainability and responsible urban development. Ray has been a driving force as Architectus explores new territory in high-efficiency facade design and natural ventilation technologies that will significantly reduce the carbon footprints of future buildings. Architects has experience substantial growth over the last three years, comprising 400 employees nationally across Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Ray is an active member of the Australian Institute of Architects and from 2009 - 2013 was Studio Leader for the Master of Architecture program at the University of New South Wales focusing on complex urban projects.
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Suzanne is a highly skilled campaigner and member of the Places You Love Alliance leadership team, Suzanne is an expert in national environmental policy and regulation. She has leveraged her background as a trained ancient historian and senior policy officer in the federal public service to hone her strong policy analysis expertise.
Over the last ten years, she has run successful campaigns safeguarding Australia’s nature, including protected areas, threatened species, and our oceans. As National Environment Laws Campaign Manager with The Wilderness Society, she’s working hard to reform Australia’s failed national environment laws along with her diverse and talented team. As a campaigner, advocate and alliance member, she has built strong working relationships with ministers, government officials, business leaders, and community leaders and members. As a Director for a Not-For-Profit and through her experience in the NGO and government sector, she has developed a special interest in governance.
Suzanne discusses the loss of wildlife and habitat across the country after our worst bushfire season ever. She more broadly discusses the loss of Australia's 'natural wealth'.in terms of the decline of Australian Wildlife & habitat leading up to this bushfire crisis. Australia has the unenviable reputation as ‘leading the world in regards to extinction rates’. https://www.wilderness.org.au/
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Before founding thedocyard, Stuart practised as a corporate lawyer both in a large law firm partnership with Colin Biggers & Paisley in Sydney and in-house with the Tesco Group, a Fortune 100 company in London. With over 15 years’ experience as a corporate transactional lawyer and as an admitted solicitor in both NSW and England & Wales, he has acted for a variety of large private and listed corporate clients, primarily on M&A and transactional matters. This deep experience both on the advisory and client side is what led to the insights from which thedocyard was created.
About thedocyard: thedocyard is a cloud-based deal space built specifically for managing the entire lifecycle of any corporate or commercial transaction. With thedocyard’s dealtech solution, all project documents, communication and management are in one place. It is designed and used specifically to be an organisation-wide solution for internal and external collaboration between all stakeholders on both sides of a deal.
thedocyard takes people into a modern, secure all-in-one cloud-based environment to run every aspect of their deal. It significantly optimises the process and the experience for all deal participants. He says they are a proudly Australian technology company that is determined to take the world by storm. ‘We are on a mission to be a leading provider of deal technology to the world and have made significant headway on that already.’
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Sarah Liu is the founder and MD of global diversity and inclusion consultancy agency, The Dream Collective. She began her entrepreneurial journey at the age of 24 when she founded The Dream Collective. What began as a mere passion project, quickly became Australia’s most influential network of high-calibre young women. Through this networking platform, The Dream Collective has been responsible for empowering and equipping thousands of professional women into leadership roles through leadership training and mentoring opportunities.
Sarah discusses how execs can break down invisible d&i barriers and how the Dream Collective can assist organisations to foster ambition among up and coming female talent.
The business pivoted a number of times, as they started off mainly as an events group. They would invite senior executives and speakers to come and speak about various topics.
Sarah says of the next step in the business development: 'That was okay, we had good attendance and growth, but it got to a point where I felt that wasn’t having the biggest impact. People were only being inspired once every two or three months, and they needed support every day, we realised having the bottom up approach was not having the greatest impact, so that’s when the business pivoted'.
'We also had to start to look at ways to monetise it and scale it properly. We ended up with a business-to-business model where companies nominate their top talent to go into our program and go through our training course. The conversation around female empowerment is a lot more mature and sophisticated, and people are understanding it’s time to put action behind it'.
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Travis Osborne, the CEO of Mobile Tyre Shop. As the name suggests, he has a fleet of 40 vehicles that will go to a person's work or home and change their car tyres. Travis got a fair bit of publicity in 2015 when he went on Shark Tank and two sharks agreed to buy into the business. Back then his turnover was $1 million and he had a valuation of $2.5 million. The two sharks agreed to pay $250,000 for a 10% share but the deal never went ahead.
Five years later, Travis expects to have 100 vehicles on the road by the end of the year and if he achieves that the business will be valued at around $100 million. Investor David Williams has bought into the business and is Chairman. Mobile tyre businesses are very big in other parts of the work, and Michelin recently bought a 40% share in one in Europe. In Australia, the tyre market is a $5.6 billion industry so Mobile Tyre Shop only needs a small percentage to be a much bigger business. The company doesn't stock any tyres so can use any of the 7,500 types on the market.
Travis says of the business:‘Mobile Tyre Shop is changing the way Australians replace their tyres. Busy families don’t have the time to sit around in draughty old workshops waiting for their tyres to be done. Especially on Saturdays, when there’s footy training, netball, shopping... and the dog needs to go to the vet. Too much hassle! Now they can easily choose their tyres online or over the phone with our qualified tyre specialists. Then Mobile Tyre Shop goes to them. At home, work - just about anywhere - professionally fitting and balancing tyres, 7 days a week'.
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Dan Ziffer covered the Hayne royal commission for ABC radio, TV, and online. He was formerly the long-time senior producer of 'Mornings with Jon Faine', at ABC Radio Melbourne, and has worked on air and in production at Macquarie Radio, as a freelance foreign correspondent based in New York City, a journalist at The Age, and as a magazine editor. In ‘A Wunch of Bankers’, Dan Ziffer bring out the colour and grit of the royal commission's proceedings, and explores broader issues raised by the testimony. A mixture of analysis, reportage, and observations, it is densely researched and compellingly written’. In addition to the book Dan discusses the changing stance of regulators, and what’s expected in 2020.
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Ben is an experienced leader focused on creating value, by providing the kind of experiences that leave customers, the company and the community better off. An entrepreneurial problem solver who delights in promoting the talent of the people around him, further enabling them to make their own unique contribution. Quick to smile with a real love of learning, a speaker of 4 languages, a movie fan and an avid reader with over 27 years' experience demonstrating innovation and achievement, with a wide range of skills acquired in roles in Exhibition (Retail) and Distribution. Skilled in Leadership, General Management, Business Development, Marketing, Sponsorship, Acquisitions, Production and Sales. Also sits on various boards and was Winner of the 2017 CEO AWARD from the Independent Cinemas Association of Australia.
Discusses: The Palace cinema story & What does it take to maintain a successful family business. How is Palace Cinemas adapting to remain competitive in the ever-changing entertainment industry. How is the cinema landscape is changing in response to streaming services? What do Australian consumers want from the movies, beyond the film? Is investing in the cinema experience the key to their success?
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SurePayd is a cloud-based payments layer for B2B accounts receivable, an area of the business where customer experiences are often negative.Karen on SurePayd:“When it comes to enterprise accounts, this means chasing payments, sending notifications, managing disputes or running reports that require a lot of complicated, cumbersome activity. Surepayd addresses this pain point by integrating with our clients’ existing ERP, and bringing an automated, consumer-like, and customisable digital experience to B2B accounts receivable.”
She explains the company provides a ‘relationship engine for the back office – a revolution in what was traditionally just a transactional process. Helps give the back office what were generally front of house resources; ease of communications, branded marketing strategies, and transparency of customer data & more. She also has comment on the merits of automation vs offshoring jobs. While fears over job losses are understandable, that same fear can lead to inaction and businesses becoming irrelevant and extinct; a far worse result for employees. Practically speaking, losing a percentage of staff is better than losing everyone.
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Marie has been in the role as the leader of the G20’s only dedicated infrastructure organisation for nearly a year now and has great insights to share about the organisation, its key pillars and new initiatives moving into 2020. Marie was previously the head of APAC for Atkins Acuity, the advisory business of Atkins and SNC Lavalin group. Before joining Atkins in 2015, she headed the Infrastructure Initiatives department of the World Economic Forum, where she led their thought leadership activities, publishing several reports on best practices in the infrastructure sector. She led the dissemination effort of these best practices to governments and advocated to coalitions such as the B20 and the G20. Recently the GiHub launched InfraChallenge, a global infrastructure competition designed to drive disruption in the infrastructure industry – a sector that has been slow to embrace digital change. For your background, the GI Hub is a G20 initiative launched at the G20 meeting in Brisbane in 2014, and is based in Sydney, with a global mandate to help support public and private investment in quality infrastructure around the world.
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Curiious is a Sydney company which has created a world-first educational VR platform in which educators and trainers can directly provide feedback and change the virtual environment live.
The compelling part of the story here is the company’s pivot and how they got into the VR space to begin with; they were an advertising and content agency that saw VR being underused and wanted to do it differently, so they worked on this platform in the background for many years, launching it this year and raising $2m from sophisticated investors to commercialise the product.
They’re in talks with schools in the US and across Australia and have signed a few up already to use VR in education and have just secured schools in LA and New York to use their content.
The veteran tech-driven Sydney visual content business Curiious – best known for its Vivid Opera House projection and the stunning visuals during the opening ceremony at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games – has raised $2 million from sophisticated investors to help scale its VR education and training platform globally.
Founder Brett Heil wants to revolutionise training and education via technology, and has launched a virtual reality platform, Curiious IQ, he says is set to change the way businesses, institutions and individuals learn and collaborate.
Curiious IQ can stream live to groups on up to 50 VR headsets simultaneously. Users see each other as avatars in the virtual space allowing for interaction and collaboration on tasks and challenges. The platform works on any VR device.
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Kristina started the global Swedish design and stationery business, kikki.K in 2001 and now has 102 kikki.K stores, stocked in another 250, and sold online to stationery and design lovers in over 147 countries worldwide. She’s also a sought-after international speaker, a passionate learner, self-improver and the proud mother of two children, Axel and Tiffany, with her partner, Paul.
She discusses making Australia her home & the challenges she faced starting her own business & her essentials that continue to inspire her work. She chats about the easy changes on how you can change your mind to create new opportunities & how kikki-k has adapted to the changing retail space since she first founded the company.
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Star Scientific is an Australian owned hydrogen energy company working on how humanity can transition to a new energy economy. Star Scientific has created the Hydrogen Energy Release Optimiser (HERO®), which produces unlimited, affordable, safe and reliable energy – with zero emissions. In the past thirty years at Star Scientific, Andrew has driven forward the company’s research around clean energy solutions that don’t risk the sustainability of Australia’s economy. In his discussion Andrew talks to: How the hydrogen industry can support Australia’s own domestic energy crisis, rather than just the export opportunity for Australia. He also talks to the background of Star Scientific. How Star Scientific discovered HERO® through its research on Muon-Catalysed Fusion. The vision, plans and priorities for Star Scientific over the next several years & how HERO® can be used to support key energy solutions, to transition to clean energy without risking financial viability. How local hydrogen-based energy can boost export prospects, by more rapidly accelerating the coming of the hydrogen economy. How local hydrogen energy can play a role in allowing Australian to maintain grid stability, energy security and economic prosperity as we transition to a clean energy economy. The challenges and opportunities in the market and how HERO® can act as a demand-side market activator, a crucial bridge between the old (fossil fuel) and new (renewable) energy economies, and a balancing force in Australia’s energy mix
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Nathan founded Upstream Energy in 2013 after fifteen years’ experience in urban firefighting and emergency response with Fire and Rescue New South Wales. His leadership in focusing growth by helping customers has been the driving force behind the opportunity Upstream now presents. Nathan continues to drive the use of new technologies and an innovative approach to delivering clean energy. Upstream Energy provides complete solar systems to commercial enterprises, with the electricity produced sold to customers through fixed supply contracts over 6 to 10 years at cheaper rates to traditional suppliers. He also touches on the scalability and variability of this framework (any and all energy users can benefit and it works especially well for commercial tenants), the potential for landlords to generate income and the role renewable energy will play in the future energy sector mix.
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Tessa is the Founder and CEO of award-winning SaaS company IntelligenceBank, a business process management business that helps companies reduce their risk and manage compliance. As a former marketer herself, Tessa sought to create an easy to use platform for marketing teams that would enable them to meet the growing pressures of churning out assets fast while being compliant due to the increasing scrutiny of regulators – resulting in the launch of Melbourne startup IntelligenceBank in 2010. Tessa discusses: The story and purpose behind IntelligenceBank. Fostering a positive workspace for women in tech where she has a 46% female dev ops team. Putting aside beanbags and ping pong tables to enable employees to define what work culture is and how they’d want to interact. She also shares her views on running a 10 year old startup and how the biggest threat to scale ups is mediocrity.
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Glenn has worked within the government and education industry as a senior executive, internal consultant and change agent, including operating his own management advisory business. He uses his skills and knowledge pragmatically to improve businesses, positioning them for better performance. His experience includes a primary focus on strategy, public policy, change leadership, stakeholder relations, product development, service delivery, governance and people and culture.
DeakinCo. exists to equip workforces with the skills recognition required to succeed both now and into the future. Partnering with DeakinCo. in the assessment of your workforce capabilities enables you to both recognise and retain great talent through the use of a suite of Professional Practice credentials that are powered by Deakin University.
Glenn gives mention to a DeakinCo & Deloitte Access Economics White Paper, developed from a new study of ‘Premium Skills’, which suggests that increasing human skills in Australian workplaces is key to lifting wages’.
Key findings:
By 2030 five core industries (government services, education, construction, health and professional services) will be adversely affected by human skills shortages Australian businesses are underspending on training, allocating $4.5 billion annually on formal training, compared to $7 billion on recruitment.
By 2030 it’s expected that two thirds of jobs in Australia will be human skill intensive. Premium human skills in the workplace result in higher wages for individuals and improved outcomes for businesses.
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Sharing food has always been central to Mark Calabro’s life. Growing up in a large Italian family, Mark had a childhood of witnessing the bonding magic of food – where sharing was caring – and it gave the marketing, sales and client relationship head an appreciation for the role of good food in bringing people together. And although Mark never pursued a career in the kitchen, he has certainly entered many in the course of selling the hospitality technology he has developed over the past two decades.
Co-founder of hospitality platform HungryHungry and point-of-sale (POS) technology OrderMate, Mark started thinking about and developing food and beverage payment systems while completing a five-year Bachelor of Telecommunications Engineering and Applied Science, Multimedia double degree at Swinburne University of Technology.
In 2003, he and his co-founder, Shannon Hautot, outgrew the Melbourne garage they started in and launched OrderMate, a revolutionary POS system for an industry better acquainted with buying a cash register out of a box. After more than 15 years of demonstrating value to eateries, OrderMate has a database of 2,500 clients thanks to Mark’s hard work, perseverance and skills in building client relationships.
Together, Mark and Shannon have invested $2 million in seed funding for HungryHungry. With close to two decades servicing the hospitality industry, combined with their experience in building a technology business from the ground up, Mark and Shannon are in the right place to position HungryHungry as a technology platform that will support merchants and chefs while providing customers with a better dining experience.
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Kylie Porter is the Executive Director of the Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA). Kylie is a sustainability expert with over 15 years of experience in corporate affairs, sustainability and strategy roles across a broad range of industries. During her career, Kylie has provided advice on responsible business and corporate responsibility practices to senior management; managed reputation risk for environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues; developed and implemented sustainability and corporate responsibility strategies; and wrote and managed policies across thematic areas such as climate change, human rights, child rights and industries such as mining and metals, oil and gas and forestry.
The United Nations Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, with over 12,000 participating businesses and other organisations, and growing. It is both a practical framework for action and a platform for demonstrating corporate commitment and leadership. Global Compact Network Australia.
In Australia, the business-led Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA) brings together signatories to the UN Global Compact, including a number of Australia’s leading companies, non-profits and universities, to advance corporate sustainability and the private sector’s contribution to sustainable development. We do this through a platform for dialogue, learning, influence and action that is inclusive, practical and leading edge, supporting our companies’ practical implementation efforts and bringing the UN Global Compact to life in the Australian context and wherever Australian companies operate.
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Susan decided to turn her hand to creative writing after a long career in medical research, public health advocacy and the pharmaceutical industry. She holds Master’s degrees in pharmacy and biostatistics, a PhD in epidemiology and health economics, and was a National Health and Medical Research Council Neil Hamilton Fairley Fellow. She holds honorary professorships at Griffith University and the University of Melbourne.
Many of Susan’s research projects have influenced health policy. For example, her early work on the use of theophylline in acute asthma highlighted its toxicity and led to an appropriate decline in its use. The ecological analysis of the effectiveness of needle-exchanges that she published in The Lancet, was pivotal in securing government support for these programs.
Her major area of expertise is cost-effectiveness analysis and she has written numerous successful submissions, on behalf of not-for-profits and pharmaceutical companies, for government subsidy of medicines. Susan’s experience in the medical research and biotechnology words was invaluable in the writing of Eight Lives, her first novel. Susan is a keen traveller and aspiring sketcher. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and labradoodle:
She discusses: Her career & business background and able to touch on some of the research projects that have influenced health policy. Fiction that educates as well as informs. She likes to read fiction that’s ‘about something’ in addition to the characters and the story, fiction that takes me to a world I don’t know or relates to a subject I’m unfamiliar with. The seed of the idea for the book came from a UK drug trial. Ignorance about science is pervasive. In Australia, every second person believes that psychic powers are real, and one in five believes in magic. Although this could be viewed as harmless, or even amusing, the so-called ‘anti-vaxers’ provide a pertinent example of the human cost of such ignorance. Fiction like Eight Lives has the potential to educate people about science, and this learning, occurring while the reader’s emotions are heightened — when they are feeling empathy for the characters of a novel, say — has the potential to be sustained.
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Jason is a Partner at McGrathNicol Advisory & has more than two decades of experience working with clients to help improve operational and financial performance. He specialises in operational efficiency, independent business reviews, risk management, forecasting and modelling, cash and working capital management and corporate streamlining. He discusses the business & McGrathNicol Advisory's recently released 7th consecutive annual Working Capital Report for 2019.
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Anita joined LaSalle in October 2017 as a Client Executive within the Client Capital Group. She is responsible for managing and developing relationships with clients and prospective clients in Australia and New Zealand and is based in the Sydney Office. Anita brings six years of investment banking experience, most recently at Fort Street Advisors, where she provided strategic advice to some of Australia’s largest real estate firms. She also worked with clients in the retail, healthcare and general industrial sectors to execute mergers, acquisitions and capital raisings. Anita is passionate about making a positive social impact. Prior to joining LaSalle, she also founded a digital health care platform (Dokotela) to connect rural and regional patients to specialist doctors via video conference. A lawyer by training, Anita started her career at Mallesons Stephens Jaques, before moving into investment banking. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Distinction) and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia.
She discusses: An overview of her role, background & LaSalle – real estate investment management Overview of LaSalle’s investment management. Interest of large institutional investors in property and particularly offshore property- motivations for seeking investments offshore. Geographic focus for offshore investments (US and Europe). Opportunities in offshore markets not available in Australia – multifamily, medical office, data centres etc. And Dokotela she founded that is an online video conferencing platform in 2017 connecting specialist doctors, mainly Psychiatrists, to rural and regional areas.
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The Lend platform is set to transform the SME finance market through automating the process of matching a lender with an SME, using a sophisticated combination of AI and analytics. In addition to this, Lend has also launched LendScore – an industry first tool exclusively available to brokers through the platform which provides brokers with a score on the likelihood of their client’s loan getting an approval from a lender.
Co-Founder and Australian entrepreneur Bill Baker, who has also founded various other successful finance companies including carloans.com.au and Fleet Choice. Bill believes the market is on the verge of a major shakeup both from a tech perspective and as SMEs increasingly turn to non-bank sources for loans, both prevalent themes in the business space.
About Lend.com.au: Founded in 2016 by a team of finance and lending experts, data scientists, machine learning engineers and technologists dedicated to creating a seamless, efficient and fast experience for Australian business finance brokers and their clients.
Lend works with brokers to provide short term unsecured business loans of $20,000 to $500,000 to SMEs in the Australian market. The vision of Lend was to completely re-architect the way finance brokers, borrowers and lenders interact. In 2019, Lend launched the fastest and most sophisticated platform specifically designed for Australian business finance brokers. The Lend.com.au platform automates the process of matching a lender to an SME, using a sophisticated combination of AI and analytics. It does all this without impacting the applicant’s credit score.
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Shroogle is a one-stop, fully connected personal finance hub in response to the findings of the Hayne Royal Commission into the financial services industry. The Melbourne-based fintech recently launched the first of a broad range of online financial services to provide increased access to comprehensive financial advice and related services.
Justin is an experienced financial services professional having spent 12 years providing advice and gathering knowledge and experience across the broader aspects of the entire wealth management chain in both large and smaller scale business practices. Qualifications include a Masters degree of Applied finance and Graduate diplomas in Applied Tax Law and Financial Planning. Chartered Tax Adviser, Specialist SMSF Adviser and Certified Financial Planner. Member of the Tax Institute’s National Superannuation Technical Committee.
He has 4 years experience in digital advice as Founder / Director of Shroogle, confirmed by some of the country's largest advice providing institutions as the leading strategic solution for the future of technology based personal financial services. He was responsible for the product vision and detailed technical and customer experience solutions and has been recognised by counterparties as one of Australia's leading advice technology experts.
Justin has now joined with Complii FinTech Solutions as Head of Product for Shroogle, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Complii. He is passionate about improving the Industry, bringing progressive, commercially sound change to the present advice paradigm and building a unification of compliant personal financial advice and management services.
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Richard is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years’ experience in retail and finance. He joined JB Hi-Fi as CFO in 2003 and took the business through the IPO process. Prior to this Richard was an Associate Director, in the Corporate Finance Group of Deloitte. Richard was appointed to the Board of JB Hi-Fi in June 2012 and became CEO on 1 July 2014.
He is currently Chairman of the Australian Charities Fund Employee Leadership Initiative, which aims to encourage Australian businesses to set up Workplace Giving Programs. To date JB Hi-Fi’s workplace giving program, Helping Hands, has 70% staff participation and has raised over $10m for its charity partners.
He discusses JB’s involvement in the ‘Workplace Giving Initiative’ and seeks to encourage other businesses to be a part of the movement. He gives an overview of the JB group business and the culture & retail strategy that are keys to the success that has seen JB Hi-Fi out-perform current trends in the retail sector.
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Merrill J. Fernando was amongst the first group of Ceylonese to learn the art of tea tasting. Similarly laudable is the philosophy around which he formed his brand – making business a matter of human service. That philosophy is fulfilled in the work of his MJF Charitable Foundation which uses a minimum 10% of the pretax profits of Dilmah and its ancillary businesses, to provide nutrition, education, care and support to differently abled children, youth in marginalized communities, the elderly. Each of over 100 projects is designed around the principle of dignified empowerment, and touches the lives of over 10,000 families each year.
The global tea company began its journey in 1988 right here in Melbourne, when Mr. Fernando convinced Coles to be the first stockist of his single-origin tea. Today, Dilmah turns over more than $US500 million a year and employs over 15,000 workers throughout the world. Merrill discusses the Dilmah story, his final farewell to his involvement in the business and to share more about the philanthropic work Dilmah is doing.
Dilhan C. Fernando is the CEO of Dilmah Tea and is the younger son of Dilmah Founder, Merrill J. Fernando. The names of Dilhan and his brother Malik form the 'Dilmah' brand, the first producer owned tea brand.
Mirroring his father's devotion to tea, Dilhan's mission is the fulfilment of the pledges his father made in the 1950s, as a young Tea man with a big dream. His commitment is to resist the commoditization that devastated a tea industry that was previously characterized by small, and passionate family enterprises. He also shares his father's vision to bring quality and authenticity back to tea, and secondly, whilst doing so, to share the success of that business with the underprivileged. In addition to his responsibilities in tea, Dilhan also manages the humanitarian and environmental outcomes of Dilmah.
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Christian has worked as a speech writer and economic advisor in the House of Lords. Was ‘Chief of Staff and Markets’ at an agriculture and renewable-energy company in Zimbabwe. Has consulted for firms in Iraq, Sweden, the US and the UK. Holds numerous degrees including a PhD in International Relations from Oxford. Head of end-to-end payments provider Monoova, Christian has some interesting opinions around what the future of payments will look like over the next decade. In fact, even though we are transacting more than ever, he believes payments will completely vanish from the world’s advanced economies by 2030. Monoova services businesses through their entire payments cycle, end-to-end. Through a single API integration, clients get access to a fully automated way of receiving, managing and paying funds. Also discusses how Monoova is doing loads of exciting things including recently becoming one of a very small group of non-banks to be enabled on the New Payments Platform (NPP).
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Isentia (ASX:ISD) is a leading integrated Media Intelligence and Insights business with operations in 11 markets. Isentia blends market-leading monitoring experience with analytics to help the world’s biggest brands uncover the whole picture – and act on it. Powered by cutting-edge technology and a team of world class experts, our mission is to help businesses leap-forward where only genuine insight can take them. Khali discusses Isentia’s recent Leadership Index series entitled ‘Leading Though Crisis’ which sheds a light on how four renowned leaders - Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Rugby Australia’s CEO Raelene Castle, Boeing CEO, Dennis Muilenburg and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - have navigated some of the world’s most turbulent crises of 2019, revealing their strengths and weaknesses and what business leaders can learn from them.
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James Mawhinney is the founder and Managing Director of Mayfair 101, an international investment group with a portfolio spanning more than 11 countries. He has substantial commercial experience in local and overseas markets in investment management, mergers & acquisitions, initial public offerings (IPO's), initial coin offerings (ICO's) and high growth businesses. He has done business in the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Israel, Canada, Poland, Italy and New Zealand, with transaction sizes ranging up to USD500 million . Discusses Personal finance when interest rate drops, Non-bank alternatives for investors, Business expansion and global development, The launch of a new brand Mayfair Platinum, providing exclusive access to investment opportunities typically only accessed by family offices, investment banks, stockbrokers and ultra-wealthy investors.
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Laura Keily, the founder of Immediation (and also a commercial barrister), who is looking to disrupt the old school / outdated legal industry. The recently launched Immediation is a world-first Australian platform aiming to modernise the archaic court system by moving legal disputes online and subsequently making it simpler and more cost effective — cost savings are up to 98% compared to traditional court-based disputes (e.g. a claim worth $5 million would traditionally cost $300,000; with Immediation it’s $7,000).
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Avaya builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration – in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both. They are a technology company that deliver Experiences that Matter. Peter discusses a report conducted by Vanson Bourne for Avaya, that forms part of a study into AI maturity & found that despite the hype around AI, the findings suggest that 42pc of Australian enterprises lack understanding and skills for Artificial Intelligence.
The research reflects the difference between Australia’s ambitions and reality; we are recognised as a mature technology nation, however despite the appetite for ‘advanced technologies’, use cases involving them are more nascent. Furthermore only 24% of Australian enterprises currently have a fully-implemented AI strategy, while 90% say AI is among the most important tech for 2019. Meanwhile, 59% want to adopt more AI, but don’t know how to do so, reflecting the increasing need for professional services.
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Mina Radhakrishnan is the co-founder of proptech start up :Different, the homegrown company on a mission to rebuild property management in Australia. The current property management model is built on charging unnecessarily high fees to property owners, while delivering sub-par experiences. :Different challengers this status quo, combining smart tech with expert property manager to help property owners save time and money, and provide a better service. Mina talks to her experience in Silicon Valley (leading product divisions at Uber and Google) and how this has shaped her view of business and technology. She also discusses :Different’s growth in Australia and why it’s on a mission to rebuild property management & what’s next for proptech in Australia.
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Michael Whytlaw is founder of Wodonga based Advanced Design Innovations and has over 20 years experience working as a Mechanical Engineer, 9 of which has been in Bespoke and Customised Engineering. He has worked on Projects in NSW, SA, Qld and Victoria, and more recently has picked up projects overseas. He discusses his design innovation & grassroots Australian manufacturing & innovation from the coalface. He shares his insights on approaching potential global export markets from a regional base. He believes that the product has fantastic export potential and are now just starting to export overseas into Europe, Middle East, Africa, USA and locally in NZ and Australia. Michael has big hopes for the product.In particular the Retrac Louvre TM Facades the first of it’s kind in the world.
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Australian Payroll Association is Australia’s leading network in payroll training, consulting and advisory for employers. It offers end-to-end payroll process reviews, compliance auditing, specialist recruitment services, payroll qualifications and training courses, and a membership program. She discusses an APA report finding 9 in 10 organisations find government legislation or employee awards difficult to interpret, with 93% of payroll managers agreeing that many of these clauses need to be revised or made simpler. The data from the Australian Payroll Association (Australian Payroll Association) also found that 58% of payroll manager had to seek advice from another payroll, HR or legal expert to clarify particular awards or pieces of legislation to enable them to pay employees correctly. Organisations say employee legislation and awards are confusing or contradictory and need revision. Government legislation or employee awards difficult to interpret, with most agreeing that many of these clauses need to be revised or made simpler.
‘Tracy has a background working with payroll vendors and payroll professionals and has spent the last 20 years trying to get one to make sense of the other. Originally a dairy farmer’s daughter, Tracy is a full-time CEO, part time manager of Luke from The Voice and one-time dinner date of Boy George. Tracy leads the team at Australian Payroll Group, who prefer her out of the office where she can’t cause havoc and that’s just how she likes it’.
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Ramez Naam is part of the US based Singularity University & believes that using exponential technologies can help solve environmental and natural resource challenges of climate change, energy, water, and food. This would be particularly beneficial for Australia’s farming sector.
Christina Gerakiteys is a creativity and innovation catalyst. Her purpose is to create a Utopian society by opening hearts and minds to inspire impossible to possible. She discusses SingularityU Australia’s purpose and mission. SingularityU is a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world's biggest challenges, create impact for good, and build a better future for all.
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BNP Paribas Securities Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the BNP Paribas Group, is a leading global custodian and securities services provider. Backed by the BNP Paribas Group they provide multi-asset post-trade and asset servicing solutions for buy and sell-side market participants, corporates and issuers. With local expertise in 36 countries and a global reach covering 90+ markets, BNP’s network is one of the most extensive in the industry, enabling clients to maximise their investment opportunities worldwide. David has been in the financial security services industry for more than 20 years and joined BNP Paribas in May 2015. His focus is developing and building a fantastic Securities service business & believes it is important to the overall health of financial services. Discusses what custody is, why it is important, how it works & who actually owns the assets? Also talks to the Latest local trends including Quicker reporting & the DLT (distributed ledger technology) CHESS replacement .
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Mark joined nib health funds limited in October 2002 as Chief Executive Officer and led nib through its demutualisation and listing on the ASX in 2007. Mark is a Director of nib holdings limited as well as its subsidiary boards. We spoke with him a few years back and thought it might be a good time to revisit the state PHI sector particularly with Mark’s strong opinions on our healthcare system. Mark went out on a limb recently and discussed potential changes to the universal health care system that many Australians seem to unanimously support – was that a mistake or do we need to recognise that our nation’s healthcare system is not that healthy after all? He nominates the key factors that would improve the Australian healthcare system.
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Adele is a multi-award winning Business Writer, Columnist & Author. Her investigations go behind corporate spin & expose corporate wrongdoing. She is a strong advocate for improving whistleblower protections & giving vulnerable people a voice. Her series of investigations into the banks over the past five years helped bring about a royal commission into the sector. Her book 'Banking Bad' tells the story behind the Hayne royal commission & how corporate greed broke our trust & failed Australia.
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Claire collected her first beehive in 2007, transporting it home in the back of her small hatchback. Fast forward & the Kyneton farmer is celebrating as 2019 Victorian AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award winner & National Runner-up for her project to breed a genetically diverse range of queen bees. Her passion comes from her concern about Australia's biosecurity, declining bee numbers across the world, with disease, insecticides and pesticides among likely causes.
In the 12 years since that first hive for her suburban backyard, Claire and her partner Paul had three kids, moved to the Macedon Ranges and traded the hatchback for a tractor. Claire has continued to study and keep bees; a fascination that began as a child. That passion might just be genetic. It was Claire’s four-year-old son who set up an egg enterprise that kick-started the family’s mixed business, The Good Life Farm Company. The business now produces eggs and honey from sustainable practices.
Australia is one of the few countries in the world to remain free of varroa mite. Biosecurity is critical for our local hives and food production. Queen bees have become a valued export product.
AgriFutures Australia is committed to the future growth and advancement of the Award as a means of identifying, celebrating and empowering women. The Rural Women’s Award is one of many AgriFutures Australia initiatives ensuring our rural industries prosper now, and into the future.
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Harry is the founder & director of Australia’s leading dedicated Search Engine Optimization (SEO) agency, StudioHawk located in Melbourne and a board member of the Australia Web Industry Association, which provides guidelines for the web industry. His company has always delivered responsive, ethical, and authentic SEO services & was founded on those principles. His interest in the industry began when a disreputable SEO agency had destroyed his father’s boat licensing business.
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Bridget is the Co-Founder and CEO at Expert360 and is a passionate leader on a mission to create simple technology products that change our working lives for the better. Bridget worked for Bain & Co in Sydney before the founding of Expert360 in 2013, at age 25, with a mission to create the technology platform that would allow companies to power agile, project-based workforces. Today, Expert360 is APAC’s leading marketplace and management platform powering the freelance economy. She is passionate about the future of work, in particular using the power of technology to increase work participation and more broadly tackle inequality through more and more accessible work opportunities. She has won numerous accolades such as Forbes 30 Under 30, Top 100 Women of Influence in Australia, FutureMakers list of Australia’s top 25 Emerging Entrepreneurs under 25, Shoestring’s Top 50 Australian female entrepreneurs under 40.
She shares insights from her TedX talk ‘Are jobs dead?’ & the rise of the professional freelance workforce and what this means for organisations in the future of work. Why organisations should look at filling their talent gaps with project-based work. How & why the fabric of work is changing? How is the development of digital technology, collaborative & remote working tools are accelerating the change away from the traditional working models & environments?
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Gavin was the former Group Head for Personal banking at NAB before leading the Federal Government’s Digital Transformation Agency. He was appointed the CEO of Nimble last year (that pioneered 60mins finance in Australia) and set a new strategy for the business where it will exit payday lending and focus on becoming a full service, and branchless, digital bank. He believes they have the team, technology, brand and strategy to take on the banks and other providers and make it a reality.
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Kirstin is the Managing Director at Future Super where she is leading the movement to use the power of money to invest, advocate and campaign for a future worth retiring into. Kirstin began her career as a Solicitor at Freehills before moving to Bain & Company where she specialised in financial services strategy, working for clients in banking, insurance and wealth management in Australia and Canada. She has done pro-bono work for non-profits and founded Aussie Babywearers for Refugees.
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Justin was co-founder of Exari, a legal tech startup that was founded in Melbourne almost 20 years ago. Exari was recently acquired by Coupa a fast growing NASDAQ listed company in what they believe is the largest legal tech acquisition ever done by an Australian founded company at $215m USD. Coupa is in the business spend management space which fits neatly with the contractual insight that Exari brings. Justin discusses the acquisition story from the inside & how they weighed up the pros & cons of likely suitors, considering large strategic PE firms or a smaller strategic (like Coupa). 'I think we're very lucky it was Coupa'
Justin's Key business points: Persistence and grit are imperative Embrace failure Grow through investment and acquisition rather than organically and include employees
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Thomas is a future food specialist & international speaker who has been recognised as one of Australia’s most accomplished young pioneers. He has driven initiatives in conservation, climate education & poverty alleviation across five continents. Realising the impacts of industrial animal agriculture & limitations of the current food system to sustainably feed everyone, he founded Food Frontier, Australia’s independent think tank & industry accelerator for plant-based and cell-based meat.
Australia’s plant-based meat sector is on the cusp of massive expansion, set to contribute up to $3 billion to the nation’s economy and generate thousands of full-time Australian jobs by 2030, according to world-first economic modelling called Meat The Alternative: Australia’s $3 Billion Opportunity. It is the first analysis of its kind globally that quantifies the current and potential size of a plant-based meat sector and its impact on a national economy – Australia’s.
About Food Frontier
Food Frontier is Australia and New Zealand’s independent, not-for-profit think tank and industry accelerator for alternative proteins. Through research, consulting and events, Food Frontier advises and connects stakeholders from business and agriculture, to academia and government, to help them navigate and champion alternative proteins in the Asia Pacific region. Food Frontier aims to create a nutritious, sustainable and future-proof food supply.
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In 2015, Olivia Carr, award-winning businesswoman and mother-of-two, couldn’t find high quality, stylish silk pillowcases online or in stores, no matter how hard she looked. Knowing the extensive hair and skin benefits of silk, and sensing a gap in the market, Olivia did what any smart entrepreneur would do; she fixed her dilemma by creating luxury silk company, ShhhSilk. Olivia counts social responsibility at the core of the ShhhSilk business.
She discusses her business journey & shares some insights into her successful start-up story & the digital retail strategies that have worked for her brand.
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Jeremy is PwC's Chief Economist in Australia & Partner in its national Economics & Policy team. His experience spans a range of diverse areas including cost-benefit analysis, valuation of the economic contributions of companies, industries, not-for-profits & specific activities, the economics of copyright & reviews of govt programs and regulatory changes. He discusses his recent policy brief for the China Matters forum on what Australia could do in the event of a China economic 'hard landing'.
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Mike is CEO of the Customer Owned Banking Association. He is an experienced Banker with extensive in-depth knowledge across all aspects of banking. This experience has been gained from senior positions held in corporate banking, commercial banking, credit, retail, and 3rd party banking and more recently as Managing Director of AMP Bank. He has also worked in finance across three continents, Australia, America and United Kingdom.
Mike discusses the customer owned banking model. What it is and how it is different to investor owned. Financial services royal commission. What it means for our sector and how Govt can use it as an opportunity to improve retail banking in Australia. And the general business environment and Mike’s experience and insights.
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Ajeet describes himself as an angel investor, mentor, former CEO of SINE and current CEO of Zebpay. He has been in the start-up scene in India since 1993. Zebpay is an app-enabled cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider headquartered in Singapore. Zebpay has just launched an SMSF funds for crypto. Ajeet shares his thoughts on the future of cryptos & how cryptos truly becoming a mainstream payment alternative to cash.
He says: ‘I have seen seen quite a bit of the ups and downs of starting up. Among other things, this has seen me raising money for my own startup, and eventually raising money for several other startups. I have sold my first company in a cash-only deal, and helped some founders exit their startup. Some noteworthy episodes of my startup life: being CEO of IIT Bombay’s business incubator (SINE), an angel investor, mentor, member of Mumbai Angels, and more.'
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Xero is a New Zealand domiciled public technology company, listed on the ASX, that offers a cloud-based accounting software platform for small and medium-sized businesses. The company has three offices in New Zealand (Wellington, Auckland and Napier), six offices in Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth), two offices in the United Kingdom (London and Milton Keynes), three offices in the United States (Denver, San Francisco and New York), as well as offices in Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Africa.
Xero's products are based on the software as a service (SaaS) model and sold by subscription, based on the type and number of company entities managed by the subscriber. Its products are used in over 180 different countries.
Xero recently released a report Paying the Price: the economic impact of Australian big businesses paying small businesses late. According to the report, $115 billion in payments from large businesses to SMBs is paid late each year, tying up cash-flow and growth opportunities for SMBs. Key reporting findings: Over half of all invoices to SMBs are paid late. By paying SMBs on time, the report found that a stimulus of $7 billion would be provided to small businesses. The report also found a link between long payment times and slower growth for small business. SMBs that are paid more slowly than average have about a third lower revenue growth than those paid faster. It’s imperative for this debt to be unlocked for SMBs to have stability, cash-flow and a stimulus to drive economic growth.
The research is based on information from more than 10 million invoices issued by more than 150,000 SMBs. Trent Innes can discuss the report, how the $115b cash-flow crunch is impacting SMBs, and how on-time payments could drive an economic surplus for Australia.
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Andrew has more than 30 years’ banking, funds management and financial markets experience and previously specialised in leverage and acquisition finance as well as corporate and institutional lending. His areas of expertise include corporate debt origination, portfolio and risk management and corporate restructuring. Andrew previously specialised in leverage and acquisition finance as well as corporate and institutional lending.
Discussion topics: Fixed income market is changing as exemplified by negative bond yields Investors need to change with it. Investors used to rely on fixed income for income, now cash, term deposits etc are at record lows Investors should move up the risk curve ever so slightly to corporate loans. Corporate bonds/ loans offers these – with returns between 4 – 10%, depending on risk. Rather than one loan, now funds offering many – more diversified That risk is still well below equities (bonds / loans rank first) Non-bank corporate loans are also an alternative source of funds for corporates, rather than the big four banks Transforming corporate lending - Metrics is now the largest non-bank corporate lender in the country.
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Melbourne-based start-up Eutropia Aerospace was founded by high-school students Moses Huf-Tirfe and Hamish Drummond. The startup combines reusable rockets with hybrid fuel to provide a more cost-effective way of getting micro-satellites into orbit. He discuses the emerging Australian space-tech industry & how the space and satellite industry may be worth $2.7 trillion globally by 2030.
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Richard has more than 25 yrs experience in plastic Surgery and is one of Adelaide's most experienced and well regarded plastic surgeons. Inspired by his viticulturist father Burton, Richard Hamilton, fifth generation wine grower, established his own winery and vineyards at McLaren Vale in 1972. Currently he & his wife Jette have two of South Australia's leading wine labels; Leconfield Wines at Coonawarra. Richard Hamilton Wines at McLaren Vale.
Leconfield Wines Background: Leconfield is a remarkable family wine business owned by Dr Richard Hamilton and his wife Jette. It encompasses two of South Australia's leading wine labels, both attributable to the Hamilton family: Leconfield Wines at Coonawarra. Richard Hamilton Wines at McLaren Vale.
With a strong wine industry heritage dating from 1837, the family has developed a distinguished international reputation for elegant fine wines. Leconfield wines are based on a simple philosophy – great wines are crafted from great vineyards.
Inspired by his viticulturist father Burton, Richard Hamilton, fifth generation wine grower, established his own winery and vineyards at McLaren Vale in 1972. Since then, Richard and his wife Jette have built up their vineyard holdings, some of which are in excess of 100 years old. These holdings are comprised not only of Burton’s McLaren Vale vineyards but also his Uncle Sydney’s winery and vineyards in Coonawarra.
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In 2011, following a successful career in media, Carolyn set her sights on improving access to children’s hearing screening. Securing funding from the NSW government and in collaboration with the National Acoustic Laboratories, the research arm of Australian Hearing, Carolyn established Sound Scouts - a digital, game-based solution to detect hearing loss in children.
Background: Children across Australia have their hearing tested at birth but the newborn hearing screening test only detects moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss. Children found to have hearing loss at birth thankfully receive treatment and support to address their hearing issues. Unfortunately, many forms of hearing issues can develop in the years after birth. Illness, injury and genetics can cause a child to develop debilitating hearing issues that if left untreated can have a profound impact on their life. Consequently, more children are first fitted with hearing aids during the first three years of school than are fitted in the first year of life (as evidence by data from Australian Hearing).
In an effort to address the significant number of children starting school with undetected hearing loss, Sound Scouts, in collaboration with the National Acoustic Laboratories (the research arm of Australian Hearing) developed the Sound Scouts App. The Sound Scouts App is a mobile application that reliably screens a child for hearing issues. Hearing science has been incorporated into a game based test that ensures the children remain engaged throughout the testing process, delivering rich, reliable data. The game incorporates patent pending technology – specifically the combination of different types of hearing tests to increase test sensitivity and enable, in most cases, different types of hearing problems to be differentiated from each other.
Carolyn has transformed the hearing health space in Australia with her innovative product and her passion for ensuring no child in Australia falls behind due to undetected hearing loss, which can cause both academic and social disadvantage.
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Nancy is the founder and CEO of award-winning Classic Finance and Classic Mentoring and Coaching. Recognised as a leader, innovator and industry expert, she is an ambassador for change both within the finance industry here in Australia, and in some of the world’s most impoverished communities. Nancy is also the author of 'Fear.Money.Purpose', a must-read for any business owner or entrepreneur wanting to move beyond the fear of money and toward greater financial freedom and purpose.
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Slack gives teams something new, a home that connects their conversations, information, and software to create the context and shared understanding people need to come together. Slack is a layer of the business technology stack that brings together people, data, and applications – a single place where people can effectively work together, find important information, and access hundreds of thousands of critical applications and services to do their best work. The universal challenge for every organisation is to turn groups of individuals moving in many directions into teams moving in the same direction. Slack gives teams something new, a home that connects their conversations, information, and software to create the context and shared understanding people need to come together. The company, which went public through a direct listing in June, is now in more than 150 countries, is used by 65 of the Fortune 100 companies and has more than 10 million daily active users. Cal chat's about how he went from game developer to the co-founder of a multi-billion dollar company, his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, and the future of work. Cal Henderson oversees the engineering organization at Slack. He is an experienced technology leader, having previously built and led the engineering team at Flickr, through its acquisition by Yahoo. As a popular speaker on engineering scalability, he authored the best-selling O’Reilly Media book Building Scalable Websites. He was a pioneer in the use of web APIs, and created the basis for OAuth and oEmbed, now used by YouTube, Twitter, and many others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_API Cal has a BCS from the University of Central England, and was involved in London’s early online community through his work with the early digital community B3ta and his personal blog iamcal.com, which he has run for over 15 years. Cal now resides in San Francisco.
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Tom is the CEO of GoGet Carshare, Australia's largest and most recognised car sharing network. With over 3,000 vehicles in 6 cities services over 100,000 members across Australia, Tom has a deep experience in operating in the sharing economy. He discusses Australia’s mobility future and how the Australian car sharing business managed to become a successful brand in a market where many others have failed.
He talk to statistics about car sharing, how consumers are engaging with the phenomenon and what marketing tactics GoGet employed to turn the new into the norm. Including: His vision for the organisation and how he sees car share as a key solution to easing congestion across Australian cities; How GoGet members are selling their own private vehicles, saving them thousands of dollars a year on registration, insurance, maintenance and petrol; How businesses are increasingly replacing private car fleets in favour of car share; How property developers are including car share pods in their developments and, by doing so, greatly reducing the number of parking spaces they're required to build; How car share vehicles stationed at airports offers members a much more flexible alternative to traditional hire cars. GoGet's recent $7.2 million investment in its fleet of vans in order to meet the surprising demand for vans as members turn to the vehicles for DIY removals, DIY couriers, and when purchasing large items such as furniture.
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It’s not often you find a successful startup story originating from a background of military, finance and cryptocurrency. This is the case for Rob Wilson, CEO of Incent, a revolutionary loyalty reward company using blockchain to provide a radically different consumer-centric reward offering. Consumers are rewarded for their entire expenditure including bills, rent, shopping and utilities which can be redeemed to cryptocurrency or cash. Rob is also a respected blockchain advisor, having successfully conducted the first Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in Australia.
Incent’s Chief Product Officer, Jins Kaduthodil joined Incent in 2017 and partnered with Rob to build the strong foundation for what Incent is today.
Jins is responsible for leading a world-class engineering team in creating Incent’s technical design and infrastructure, using innovative technology alongside proven cybersecurity practices to build the world’s first mass market crypto-based product. He was the youngest senior architect for the Australian Department of Defence, specialising in cybersecurity and technology.
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In 1999, George became a Rugby World Cup champion. He is respected throughout the rugby world for his tenacity, durability, fitness, tactical skill, leadership ability and sportsmanship. In June 2004 Gregan was appointed to the Order of Australia for his services to Rugby Union Football and in particular, as the Captain of the Wallabies. He retired from rugby in 2011. George is now actively involved in the café and catering business – The Gregan Group, established in 1997 by his wife, Erica Gregan, who is the Managing Director of the business. Currently there are 15 outlets including cafes, small wine bars and bistros.
PTP: ‘Smarter Movement Better Performance’ - In 2012 George was involved in cofounding the PTP brand. George is widely respected as one of the most well-prepared athletes in the rugby world. Coupled with a degree in Sports Science, George has brought his extensive fitness and recovery knowledge to consumers through the PTP range of products and education.
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Nicole combines her passion for life, enlightenment and fine food through running Universal Village, a fair trade food business that markets the Qi Tea and Eloments Vitamin Tea brands. Nicole has helped take fair trade products into the mainstream grocery stores. Nicole was a founding board member of the Fair-Trade Association and is currently the Secretary. She holds a Masters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and has a passion for doing business with purpose. Eloments is the world’s first organic tea enriched with plant-based vitamins and minerals, designed to give consumers a natural and enjoyable way to take their daily vitamins. This small company - comprised of just Julie Hirsch and Nicole - is celebrating a recent big win with entry into the tea aisle in 75% of Woolworths supermarkets around Australia, making them one of the few female-owned companies to sit in the category. They are proud of their recent capital raising mission for Eloments, they were proud (and rightly so) to share they broke the $1million-raised mark. According to Forbes, only 2.2% of venture capital funding in 2018 went to female founders. Julie and Nicole hope to be part of the movement of female-led businesses around the world changing this norm.
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Mike is a strategic thinker with creative passion, Mike helps to grow build brands, digital products & eCommerce channels with a unique blend of technology, storytelling, design and data experience. He is the co-founder of Scratch, Australia's fastest-growing direct to consumer pet company. Thousands of dogs around Australia lick their Scratch bowl clean and enjoy healthier food, made fresher on subscription without all the retail markups along the way. He is also an eCommerce Designer & digital strategist & speaks on eCommerce, brand and the subscription economy. He is also one of Australia’s most experienced direct to consumer marketers.
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Warryn Robertson is Portfolio Manager & Analyst on Lazard’s Global Listed Infrastructure, Global Equity Franchise, and Australian Equity teams. He has been working in the investment field since 1992. The Lazard Global Equity Franchise Fund is an actively managed portfolio of between 25 to 50 securities that seeks long-term, defensive returns by investing globally in a range of franchise companies. The Fund invests in listed companies which they consider have an “economic franchise”, meaning companies which possess a combination of predictable earnings and large competitive advantages. The Fund’s objective is to achieve total returns (including income and capital appreciation and before the deduction of fees and taxes) in excess of the MSCI World Index with lower risk over the long term. He discusses what investment trends he has observed across his 20 year career, Current markets – why markets look expensive, top stock picks, value vs growth investing & his opinion on the economic outlook.
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Queensland-based mutual Heritage Bank is defying both industry trends and a highly competitive market by announcing it will open two branches in Sydney – the first ever outside its home state. Heritage is Australia’s largest customer-owned bank. Based in the regional city of Toowoomba, Heritage has 59 branches across southern Queensland, $10 billion in total consolidated assets and 800 staff members. Chief Executive Officer Peter Lock said the move into bricks and mortar in Sydney reflected Heritage’s desire to build its national footprint and its belief in the future of the branch concept. Peter has more than 30 years experience in the financial services industry, spanning insurance, institutional banking, business development, business banking and corporate banking. He has held senior management roles at the Bank of Melbourne, St George Bank, and the Commonwealth Bank, following a career with the National Australia Bank.
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Sam is a professional negotiator - the only female in Australia to have even made it onto the consideration list for the Police Negotiator's course. She was the Head of Partnerships and Sponsorship at Telstra for 15 years and is now a gun for hire - companies hire her to negotiate all kinds of things, but primarily things relating to marketing. She has just released a book called I Love Negotiating, as well as launching an online course called Negotiation Fundamentals. She sees negotiation is a critical business skill, but it's one that is rarely taught. Sam could share some basics on how to run a smooth and successful negotiation, as well as tips on how to ask for things the right way to maximise your chances of success. She enjoys solving business problems from the outside in, focused on Negotiation strategies, go-to-market strategies & growth strategies.
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Rory Jeffes brings decades of experience to one of the top jobs in Australian arts, and Opera Australia operates on a global stage as one of the most prolific companies in the world. Rory became Chief Executive Officer of Opera Australia in August 2017. Prior to this he was Managing Director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for 8 years, during which time he led the development of the presence and profile for the orchestra in China as a leading cultural ambassador for Australia. He has also held senior management roles in the Development area at leading not-for-profit organisations. He discusses Opera Australia & the importance of the company to the Australian & International artistic landscape, the fostering of Australian talent & the business of show business.
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Julian Beaumont is the Investment Director of Bennelong Australian Equity Partners. He has been a fund manager in Sydney for over a decade now, before which he worked in finance in Singapore and London. Bennelong Australian Equity Partners is an Australian-based funds management firm. It currently has invested approximately $6 billion in ASX-listed equities on behalf of institutions, charities, family offices, high net worth’s and other individual clients. Discusses The current state of the market. The division on the ASX between domestic-only businesses (eg, Commonwealth Bank and Woolworths) and Australia’s globally-orientated champions (CSL and Goodman Group). Where is the growth on the ASX? Investors (misplaced) love of dividends. The concentration of the ASX in certain stocks, sectors and styles.
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Helen is responsible for the overall strategic direction and management of the Shared Value Project. She engages with the organisations key stakeholders and members to promote and influence the development of shared value in Australia and Asia Pacific. Helen has been instrumental in the establishment of the organisation from its conception, and has played a critical role in driving adoption and implementation of shared value strategies among leading companies in Australia. The current environment where social organisations face greater demand and less funding from the government, businesses need to take a shared value approach. Shared value, a business strategy introduced in 2011, proposes a way for businesses to enhance competitiveness while simultaneously advancing the economic and social conditions in the communities in which it operates. Australia is faced with significant social and community challenges that the government alone cannot resolve. As a result, there is a growing expectation from the public for businesses to play a broader, more purpose driven role in the community where it operates.
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Didier Elzinga is the CEO and Co-founder of Culture Amp - the world's leading employee feedback platform. Launched in 2011, it’s one of Australia's fastest growing technology startups and has helped companies around the world harness the power of employee feedback to drive positive change. With offices in Melbourne, San Francisco, New York and London, Didier is proudly growing Culture Amp into a Culture First company.
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Kinesis is an Australian company that builds technology that makes data reveal what it’s been hiding – by drawing together diverse data sets and adding a layer of knowledge and analysis that is powerful and artful, to connect dots that couldn’t otherwise be seen. The company is working with councils, universities and businesses across Australia. He discusses the federal election ‘poll-fail’ & why we’re getting data so wrong in the ‘big data’ era. How politics is stuck in a bygone era of spin and rhetoric, failing to address issues with actionable data. How this can change, what data sets are available to politics, businesses and more, and how they can effectively analyse them.
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Mans is Head of ESG Research at Ausbil Investment Management Limited following nearly five years as Senior ESG Research Analyst at AMP Capital. He has worked as a financial analyst as well as an ESG specialist covering Australian, New Zealand and Scandinavian equities across a wide range of sectors and sustainability issues. He discusses current emerging ESG issues & is particularly passionate about the issue of Modern Slavery & how does it / could it impact businesses here – and investors.
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Matthew is a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors & is a consultant in the finance and property sectors. 25 years experience in institutional banking, corporate finance and property finance law. His Chief Operating Officer role for Kanebridge Ltd, is focussing on developing Kanebridge Lifestyle Service into the leading premium Build to Rent operator in Australia. Discusses the Build-to-rent housing model which is relatively new in Australia but has been well established in the US and UK for several decades. As a result, it has created a challenge for the many companies wanting to establish their business in this space in the local market.
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Prof. Biercuk is a quantum physicist, innovator, and Director of the Quantum Control Laboratory at the University of Sydney. His group is working to develop a new generation of advanced technologies powered by the phenomena in quantum physics - Quantum Tech. As an expert in quantum physics and quantum technology Michael is also the founder and CEO of Q-CTRL, a quantum technology company. Q-CTRL is supported entirely by venture capital and operates from the campus of the University of Sydney. Earlier this year he spoke at SXSW on Investing in Game-Changing Deep Tech and has since had several articles published on the same, exploring the connection between research, deep tech and commercialisation.
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Sam started Broadband solutions with $1000 and a second hand router and a big vision for what the internet could do at a time when internet was very new. He held important meetings in borrowed boardrooms as he and his business partner couldn’t afford a fancy office and were embarrassed to show these big companies where they really worked. The BBS business has a turnover of about $30 million per year with less than 30 staff. Broadband Solutions is continuously evolving its product offer and creating unique, proprietary software to offer its clients. Stepping down as CEO in March 2018 has allowed Sam to focus on the international expansion side of the business as well as investigating and creating new technologies within the business.
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Shares his insight as a mortgage broker into the property market downturn & the Justice Hayne recommendations post the royal commission. He also discusses the potential impact to competition as a result, government reactions both sides, industry plans reactions & the ‘Mates Rates’ mortgage broking business model that provides rebates of trailing commissions to make it a fairer outcome for their clients.
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Tui created Koh Living along with best friend and business partner Nyree Hibberd to bring connection and meaning to others through inspiring giftware. “Having no meaning in life can lead to addictions and destructive patterns,” says Tui. “I found that Koh Living’s core mission has given me purpose and allowed me to give up addiction and thrive.” Strong personal connections are incredibly important to both Tui and Nyree. Tui grew up in a disconnected household filled with alcohol abuse. Nyree also experienced a challenging childhood. Both women rallied against the challenges and suffering they faced to forge a better future for themselves and their families. “We both gave up alcohol together, and came out together. It tested our friendship, but we managed to save ourselves in the end. Now we are indestructible business partners because of the adversity we have overcome.”
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Anna is a female pioneer of sustainability, having worked globally in investment banks, as policy advisor to government, and as current CEO of ClimateWorks Australia, a not-for-profit working with the government to create a low carbon economy. As a recent addition to the Board of Impact Investment Group, Anna will be looking at how capital can be invested sustainably. Her outlook is that meaningful climate action must come from investing capital differently to now. Impact Investment Group provides wholesale investors opportunities in commercial real estate, renewable energy infrastructure and venture capital.
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‘Provenir’ is an award-winning ag-tech disruptor that aims to eliminate live cattle transport prior to processing. Its on-farm processing technology is designed to improve animal welfare, progress sustainable farming practices, and guarantee full traceability, provenance and exceptional meat quality. Currently every cut of Australian beef is processed in a static abattoir. The consolidation of abattoirs in recent times has required livestock to be transported over longer distances to the processors. The effect of live transport can reduce yield, increase animal stress and consequently have a negative effect meat quality. Chris discusses Provenir's story and motivation and the values that drive the Company and its design for high animal welfare and sustainable farming practices.
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Jim Foran is founder and CEO of PVStop International Pty Ltd, a company that is pioneering renewable energy and new technology safety. Jim has over 20 years experience in senior sales, marketing and operational roles with some of the world’s largest brands, lectured on renewable energy safety in 14 countries and holds qualifications in both business and fire engineering. Jim is passionate about renewable energy and improving firefighter safety. PVStop is the only solution (globally) that safely isolates the power produced by solar panels. The product eliminates the risk of high voltage DC electrocution by acting as a “liquid tarpaulin” shutting down the solar PV system in seconds. This problem poses a significant safety risk recognised by fire and emergency services agencies around the world. In professional terms this risk is known as the “DC Danger Zone” and up until now, there has been no practical solution to this globally recognised problem.
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Gavin Scholes' career encompasses an extensive background in business, with a special knack for marketing and business innovation. In 2004, through hard work and dedication, and lobbying the Australian Government for standardised telephone keypads, Gavin was able to realise his dream of pioneering the ‘PhoneWord’ industry in Australia under the flag of 1300AUSTRALIA, eventually partnering with Telstra to cement total control of the market. Two years ago Gavin bought back Telstra’s majority 85% share of the business (refer attached Fin Review article) and is now quickly growing 1300AUSTRALIA into more than just a PhoneWord business; a move underlined through its acquisition and rapid growth of the CallN platform CallN has already become a powerful challenger brand in the call recording and AI based business intelligence space, operating in 11 countries, with major operations in the Asia-Pacific and USA.
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Earlytrade is an Australian fintech pioneering early payment of invoices from large corporate's to their suppliers, they recently announced the newly formed venture fund Shearwater Growth Equity has become shareholders in the business. Shearwater, whose founding partners sit on the board of ASX-listed technology giant WiseTech Global, have invested AUD2.5 million out of the total capital raised for their stake in the business. The Earlytrade platform enables corporate's, and their suppliers to collaborate transparently to negotiate invoice terms in return for early payment. The new funding paves the way for Earlytrade to enhance its innovative early payments platform and further expand its enterprise clients and existing network of 27,000+ suppliers. He discusses how Technology is changing the way businesses in Australia and NZ are paying each other to free up some of the $76 billion that is regularly ‘trapped’ in a slow and inefficient late-payment process.
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Tom Larter served in the Australian Regular Army from 2004-2017 as an Infantry Officer and Leader. Now, he's ANZ CEO at the organisation, helping military veterans, and other underutilised groups, transition to a new workplace and plug skills gaps across Australia. 'WithYouWithMe' is an education and employment start-up which helps solve underemployment and get individuals into the right job. Launched in 2015, the organisation had one mission which was to remove veteran employment issues in Australia and challenge the traditional recruitment model. 'WithYouWithMe' is dedicated to helping underutilised groups become competitive talent in the job market - from veterans to working mums. With innovative tech solutions and industry-leading training, they are solving underemployment across the globe by focusing on the ‘Future of the Worker’, not just the ‘Future of Work’.
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Merryl commenced with Tabcorp in October 1990 and has held numerous positions across a range of discipline areas including human resources, training and development, communications and sales. She holds a Masters of Business Administration (Executive) and a Bachelor of Arts, and has attended the Senior Executive Program at the London Business School. She is a Member of AICD.(Aust Institute of Company Directors) The Tatts/Tabcorp Merryl Dooley has played an enormous role transforming the workforce following one of Australia’s largest corporate mergers – the $11b Tatts Group and Tabcorp merger. Merryl discusses the human story behind the scenes that helps give these mergers the best chances of success.. What has been required to ensure minimal disruption to business. Why a people first culture is fundamental to putting a merger on the right footing. Appointing the right leadership team and doing it quickly - the importance of appointing a full leadership team within the first 100 days. The challenges and complexities of transitioning 2 cultures and identities into 1 and all the subsequent policies.
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With a passion for digital and a mind for innovation, Kath Blackham has been at the forefront of tech solutions for over 18 years. Her experience spans market research at TNS and RedSheriff, Product Management at SEEKand REA before starting her own full service digital agency in 2010 called DeependMelbourne Pty Ltd, which grew to be one of Australia’s largest independent digital experience and design agencies. Kath has championed local initiatives (Code Like a Girl),andhas been an Australian voice for digital around the globe (SoDA). In 2017, Kath helped spearhead the creation of Australia’s first enterprise-level voice experience (VX) agency VERSA. Most recently, Kath led the merging of Deepend Melbourne and VERSA to create a VX and Digital Design powerhouse.With a growing client portfolio, including Village Cinemas, beyondblue, Dairy Australia, Nova, Domino’s,Red Cross and Scenic; VERSA is poised to set the pace for VX innovation and large-scale digital designin Australia and internationally. Kath is exceptionallycommitted to gender equality, flexibility and the future of work, and is a pioneer in the spacewith VERSA being the first Australian agency to operate a four-day working week model, to great success. She is dedicated to VERSA’sculture, which is unrivalled -it’s about passion, independence and expertise.VERSA works with its exceptional client partners to deliver connected experiences spanning multiple technologies, platforms, and media -creating positive business impact -a true driving force in the market.VERSA is committed to helping people experience a better life.VERSA /http://www.versa.agency
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Roll-it Super is Passionate about helping employers financially empower their employees. Roll-it Super is a technology start-up billed as Australia’s first independent, employee choice-of fund information platform. The company is lead by CEO Mark MacLeod, who started the company after losing $50,000 of his own super when his employer put him in an underperforming default fund without his knowledge. It comes as a recent Productivity Commission report found low income employees in under-performing default super funds retire with $635,000 fewer savings than their counterparts in high-performing funds.
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Lindy is the 2018 CEO Today (UK) Healthcare Award Winner, a Telstra Business Woman of the Year nominee and a globally accredited medical tourism professional. Meditrav is an innovative Australian business that connects medical travellers across the world with high quality, affordable, and accredited health providers, hospitals, and clinics in Australia and overseas. It meets a need created by a booming medical tourism industry, which is projected to grow from US$56.333 billion in 2018 to US$136.591 billion in 2023. Meditrav has already developed a strong market presence in China for patients seeking to travel to Australia and across Asia for health assessments and diagnostics, high value wellness programs, and IVF. It also assists Australians seeking to undertake medical, wellness and dental treatments in high quality centres overseas in countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand, where the costs are significantly cheaper.
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Sue Barrett is the founder and CEO of Barrett, the pragmatic and innovative business advisory and education firm specialising in sales, the online sales education and resource platform and the Selling Better Movement. She is a selling better strategist and advisor, sales philosopher and speaker, sales trainer and coach, writer and activist. Barrett develops sales strategies, standards and education that help people and businesses sell better.
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