Diana Williams from Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs In the early 90s Diana Williams recognised an untapped market for a women-only gym. With co-founder John Clow, the pair were just in time to beat overseas competitors to the market, and rolled out the hugely successful Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs franchise, which now boasts 75 locations around [...]
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Mark Bouris, founder of Wizard Home Loans Seeing the time was ripe for non-bank home loan providers in the late 90s, Mark Bouris took advantage of the property boom and started Wizard Home Loans. Bouris attracted powerful backers including Kerry Packer, eventually seeing turnover grow to $100 million annually. Recently selling the company for a tidy sum, he remains [...]
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Brad Sugars from Action International From teaching business in his suburban bedroom, Brad Sugars’ company Action International now has nearly 1,000 offices in more than 20 countries teaching business owners how to be their best. Having learnt the ins and outs of business after owning and operating several of his own since leaving university, Sugars’ made a [...]
...read moreRoger Gillespie, founder of Baker’s Delight and Brumby’s bakery chains Roger Gillespie knows his dough. A fourth-generation baker, Gillespie started his first bakery to help fund a local school in 1975. This became the first Brumby’s. In 1980 he launched Baker’s Delight, to great success, and the stores kept coming. There are now 700 franchisees [...]
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John Casella, managing director of Casella Wines You’d be hard pressed to find someone who’s not familiar with the Casella Wines’ Yellow Tail brand, the brainchild of John Casella. Coming into the family business as managing director in 1994, with a focus on new technology and up-to-date developments in the winemaking process, Casella has seen [...]
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Collette Dinnigan, fashion designer One of Australia’s most successful fashion designers, Collette Dinnigan has dressed everyone from homegrown talent to Hollywood stars. The fashion designer’s accolades include the 1997 Louis Vuitton Business Award and Australian ‘Designer of the Year’ in 1996. Recently celebrating her 10th fashion show in Paris, Dinnigan has shown that style combined [...]
...read moreDavid Bassau, financial entrepreneur and founder of Opportunity International Australia David Bassau’s work in the field of micro finance has given assistance to budding small business entrepreneurs in developing countries. Bassau established Opportunity International Australia in 1971, and the business operates in almost 30 countries (current average loan size: $213). Now retired from the company he [...]
...read moreMaggi Miles and Gary Lines, founders of Byron Bay Cookie Company After working in the fashion industry, Maggi Miles and Gary Lines started baking cookies for local markets in the Byron Bay area while deciding on their next business venture. High demand soon showed that they’d already found it, and Byron Bay Cookie Company was [...]
...read moreNapoleon Perdis, founder of Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics Despite studying law and marketing, Napoleon Perdis began teaching women how to apply makeup before launching his own brand of cosmetics. Now Perdis’ self-named line can be found at more than 550 points of sale around Australia, including 52 concept stores, and seven makeup academies. His multimillion-dollar line [...]
...read morePaul Cave, founder of BridgeClimb It took Paul Cave almost a decade to get the business off the ground, but the Bridge Climb has now seen almost two million people climb to the top of Australia’s most famous icon. Cave battled bureaucracy and red tape, as well as trying to sell the concept to prospective investors. [...]
...read moreBelinda Fraser and Melanie Bourne, founders of endota spa Long-time friends, Belinda Fraser and Melanie Bourne hatched the idea for endota spa—day spa—when they ran into each other at a barbecue. They started endota spa with two credit cards and a belief in their concept. Young and female, they’ve had to persevere to be taken [...]
...read moreLes Schirato, CEO of the Cantarella Bros Previously working for the marketing side of the business under his father-in-law and brother, Les Schirato stepped up to CEO and took Vittorio coffee beans from retailing to cafes and delicatessens into supermarkets, discovering a major new sector for the product. Schirato’s branding experience has clearly worked for [...]
...read moreDr Peter Farrell, CEO and co-founder of ResMed When Dr Peter Farrell was presented with a new innovation to treat sleep apnea in the mid-eighties, he saw its potential, so along with some colleagues, bought the rights and ResMed was born. From very early days, Farrell’s global approach to business now sees the company selling [...]
...read moreEmma Brown, from Business Chicks Staff It, the business Emma Brown founded at 18, was named 2005 Small Business of the Year, as well as Australia’s favourite recruiter at the SEEK Awards. Selling her shares in the business, Brown took over networking organisation Business Chicks, which continues to go from strength to strength, and shows [...]
...read moreGraham & Wendy Erhart founders of Withcott Seedlings Taking a backyard operation into a million dollar seedling business, Graham and Wendy Erhart used the country’s water crisis as a catalyst for further innovation and success. Developing new systems and new products, Withcott Seedlings continues to grow. And not without accolades, with Wendy named the 2005 Veuve Clicquot [...]
...read moreTim Pethick, founder of nudie juice With a target market of one—himself—Tim Pethick developed a product that wrote the book on developing a niche. Before nudie the juice market was relatively unexciting. However, with Pethick’s mix of savvy and humour, nudie quickly became one of the country’s biggest brands. Pethick is now looking for the next challenge for [...]
...read moreFantastic Furniture’s Julian Tertini Julian Tertini founded both Freedom (since sold) and Fantastic Furniture empires. His achievements were recognised as a divisional 2003 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award winner, and he made the BRW Rich 200 list in 2004, with estimated wealth of $168 million.
...read moreTom Potter from Eagle Boys Jobless at 23, Tom Potter borrowed the money to open his first pizza shop in Albury, NSW. Twenty years later he has expanded the Eagle Boys Dial-A-Pizza franchise to some 180 stores Australia- wide, with a current annual turnover in excess of $110 million.
...read moreTony Kinnane from Runge Mining services company Runge has remained at the forefront of new technologies and software development for 23 years, and now boasts offices in Brisbane, Singleton, Johannesburg, Calgary and Santiago. Tony Kinnane heads up the company, which, last year, was recognised as the smartest in Queensland at the state government’s Smart Awards.
...read moreJohn Ilhan from Crazy John’s John Ilhan’s crazy marketing ideas have paid off; with Crazy John’s now the largest independent phone retailer in Australia with some 120 retail stores across the country. The late Ilhan was valued in the 2006 BRW Rich List at $300 million.
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