The Dynamic Business Expert Panel: Management and Growth
Here at Dynamic Business we’ve brought together some of the biggest names in Australian business to work with us in offering our readers expert business advice on every aspect of managing and growing a SME. Each month you’ll receive expert business advice on the issues that matter to you most. Be inspired and learn from their wealth of experience.
Craig Emerson MP
Minister for Small Business
www.craigemersonmp.com
Dr Emerson is Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy, federal member for Rankin and Minister assisting the Finance Minister on deregulation.
He has held senior appointments in the public sector and as an economic adviser. He has first-hand experience of small businesses, having run one in a partnership, and was economic adviser to Labor’s longest serving Australian Prime Minister, Bob Hawke.
He was appointed Small Business Minister in the Rudd Government in December 2007. He holds a Bachelor of Economics and a Masters of Economics from the University of Sydney, and PhD in Economics from the Australian National University.
Mary Henderson
CEO, GeekIT Group
www.geekitgroup.com.au
With more than15 years of top level sales and marketing experience, when it comes to sales, business development and marketing strategies in the IT and digital media spheres, Henderson is an expert.
A natural communicator and passionate visionary, she started her professional career as a media advertising sales executive, a role which fostered a keen eye for sales strategies and genuine passion for business relations.
Having held numerous national sales and business development roles (including Australian/NZ sales director for Belkin), she has a deep understanding of sales systems, strategies and structures.
Henderson is also a longstanding e-commerce advocate and in 2005 she established web development firm GeekIT Group.
At the end of 2006 she was auspiciously appointed as the Victorian President of AMIA (Australian Multimedia Industry Association), Australia’s most prestigious and well regarded digital media representative body. More recently, she was invited to sit on the Victorian AIIA (Australian Information Industry Association) board.
Matthew Nolan
Managing director, Provident Cashflow
www.providentcashflow.com.au
Nolan has 16 years’ banking and finance experience and joined Provident Cashflow from Macquarie Bank. He has held management positions at both ANZ and Westpac and is experienced in structured lending and asset finance, particularly funding of SMEs and investors.
He founded Provident to provide loans to Australian SMEs for the acquisition of additional inventory. Through this, he helps other SMEs to grow, overcoming existing working capital constraints.
Nolan’s knowledge of small businesses, their management and finance is second to none. His experience in launching this new product to SMEs has given him a unique insight into what it takes to succeed as an SMEs, and the challenges they face through finding funding that’s innovative enough to meet their needs. He is now using his knowledge to complete his doctorial thesis on small businesses, their working capital management and the accessibility of suitable finance and advice.
Janine Allis
CEO and managing director, Boost Juice
www.boostjuice.com.au
From zero to 85 stores and 1,250 employees in the first three years, thirty-something Allis has established and grown Boost to become the number one juice bar business in the Southern Hemisphere.
She admits that she never imagined she would be leading a multimillion dollar empire and achieving a staggering revenue of more than $100 million per year in sales.
Since opening the first store in Adelaide in 2000, Allis has grown Boost to become a dynamic, innovative business with almost 200 stores in Australia and New Zealand and several overseas. In September 2004 Boost Juice opened an outlet per day in Australia.
Allis’ enthusiasm and passion have driven the company to where it is today. She has experienced every facet of the company, from painting the floor in the first store, to negotiating the purchase of another juice bar chain.
She was 2004 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year and 2005 American Express Franchisor of the Year.
Brad Sugars
Owner, ActionCOACH
www.bradsugars.com
International entrepreneur, best-selling author, business coach and educational speaker, Sugars knows a thing or two about business. He built ActionCOACH up from nothing to today being ranked by the USA’s Entrepreneur magazine as the 16th fastest growing franchise in the world and 53rd out of the top 500. All this in just 12 years!
His dad decided he was going to be a businessman when he caught him selling his Christmas presents to his brothers at the tender age of seven. The following year he worked out he could make money and get the toys back, if he just rented them out for a few days at a time.
Sugars started ActionCOACH in 1993. For the first time, SME owners had access to hundreds of powerful, yet relatively simple and affordable sales, marketing and team-building strategies that brought about dramatic improvements in their revenues and profits. He franchised his concept in 1997 and now with more than 640 coaches globally, ActionCOACH stands proud as the industry leader.
He is the author of The Business Coach, Instant Cashflow, Billionaire in Training and many more books.