Build It. They'll Come.

Over many decades, Moree NSW-based farmer Dick Estens built not just one, but two formidable agribusiness empires. Starting out with just $200,000 in net assets, Dick leased land, share farmed and then managed to scale up a massive cotton farming operation. Then when many might think about retiring, at age 59, Dick took on a monumental challenge and pivoted into the citrus industry, buying into a struggling Brisbane-based brand—Grove Juice— before he had even planted a single orange tree. When much of Australia’s citrus sector was in dire trouble, Dick Estens persevered and built a vertically integrated business model that controls every facet from orchard development to supermarket shelves. Grove Juice now produces 40 million litres of orange, apple and even mandarin juice a year, employing around 250 people. In this episode, Dick reflects on exactly what’s required to navigate long investment cycles, severe droughts, complex risk management and his core philosophy of empowering people. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gabrielle Requena, the founder of Wrinkles Schminkles , shares her entrepreneurial journey, detailing how she built a successful skincare brand from a simple idea. Starting with a Bachelor and Master of E-commerce, Gabrielle gained valuable experience at Deloitte Consulting and eBay, which laid the groundwork for her future venture. Frustrated by the lack of effective solutions for chest wrinkles caused by side sleeping, Gabrielle developed 100% medical-grade silicone patches. These patches work by compressing the skin and stimulating blood flow and collagen, offering both instantaneous and cumulative results. Initially a side project, Wrinkles Schminkles grew into a global business with nearly $20 million in annual revenue, primarily through direct-to-consumer e-commerce in Australia, the US, and the UK. Gabrielle discusses the challenges and triumphs of scaling the business, including navigating the competitive beauty market. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When uni student Annabelle Chauncy volunteered in Uganda, in her words, she was blown away by the poverty and the lack of resources, including education, in much of rural Uganda. So she not only had a dream to try and change that, but she acted on it. At 22 years of age, Annabelle set about building a small primary school for the most disadvantaged kids in a village. But first she had to raise the funds, work out how to buy some land, how to go about building a physical structure and then of course how to staff and run a school, in a community where virtually no-one spoke English. A feat that would surely be daunting for most of us. But now 15 years after her first school opened, this accidental entrepreneur has achieved enormous success with School for Life Foundation… it has educated now thousands of children across several schools and even a boarding school, with a cohort of 40 now studying at university, and School for Life employs 250 Ugandan staff. Annabelle Chauncy is a life-changing and inspiring leader. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Build It They'll Come. host Helen Dalley sits down with David Paradice AO, the founder and driving force behind Paradice Investment Management. Starting 26 years ago with just a single client and $30 million under management, Paradice has built a boutique investing powerhouse that now manages and invests around $20 billion for major super funds, large institutions, and retail investors. Paradice describes his deeply focused approach to stock picking, emphasising the importance of fundamental investing and maintaining face-to-face relationships with company management. He opens up about the immense pressure and sleepless nights that come with managing retirement savings, how he navigates volatile markets, and his core business philosophy: consistency over time equals returns. Paradice discusses his passion for polo, his dedicated philanthropic work, and how a champion team will always outperform a team of champions. He even shares the unexpected business and life lessons hidden inside a favourite children’s book series kept at his office reception (listen to the end to learn which one!) It is a candid look at the human touch behind a genuine home-grown Australian financial empire. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When he took over the family wine business in 1994 at the tender age of 33, Darren De Bortoli continued a legacy his father Deen had built on that was De Bortoli Wines, centred around the vineyard his grandfather planted in the NSW Riverina. Darren was a young superstar, having created as a newly qualified winemaker in 1982, the acclaimed Noble One Botrytis Semillon – to this day a globally renowned, medal-winning sticky wine, and a wine that quickly catapulted De Bortoli Wines into massive growth. The company moved into other wine districts like the Yarra Valley, King Valley and more recently Rutherglen in Victoria, and also the Hunter Valley. Under Darren’s leadership they pioneered environmentally sustainable winemaking practices and today they grow wheat, barley and oat crops using eco-friendly waste water from the wineries. Today De Bortoli Wines is the 6th largest wine company in Australia by revenue, yet still Australian and family owned and run. But as he reflects on the great legacy he’s helped build, Darren De Bortoli is candid about the considerable challenges he and others face: namely water access and climate change, a global wine glut and a downturn in wine consumption. Hope you enjoy Darren De Bortoli. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After years as an art critic writing about art, art consultant Michael Reid decided to take the plunge into the business side of the market and become a gallerist. He had his university degrees, but Michael Reid knew his strongest foundation actually came from his time spent honing expertise and his business sense inside Christie’s, the massive global art world juggernaut. Based in London, Michael discovered that exposure to art and auctions and the business of art on the international stage was the best qualification he could possibly have. This self described boy from country NSW, who describes himself as super ambitious, who is building and growing his “world” as he calls it, who has built physical galleries, online platforms, food destinations, a current pop-up gallery in Los Angeles with plans for a permanent exhibition space there, who loves to drop names and sells to some of the finest collectors in Australia, operates his global business from his quiet, peaceful home in a tiny town, yes … back in country NSW. And he’s not finished yet. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Tudehope left the finance world in the early 1990’s with a dream to service small to medium business who complained of poor service and overcharging by the monopolist at the time, Telstra. Tudehope wasn’t a digital expert nor a highly trained computer engineer. But he understood numbers, and that customers wanted good service, not delays and obfuscation. So he had his brother Aidan started a small business they called Macquarie Telecom, back in 1992, with only the savings the pair could scrounge up, and forged headlong into the ultimately capital-intensive telco space. This is long before the internet and smart mobile phones. But they took on the slow-to-change Telstra and stuck to their mission of offering better customer service and cheaper prices to the business customer. In just over 3 decades they’ve built (now named) Macquarie Technology Group into one of the Top 300 listed companies in Australia, with a market capitalisation of over $1.5 billon, offering major clients like the ATO, Officeworks and PayPal still telecom, but now cloud-based, cyber security services as well as massive investments in data centres to support the boom in AI. David appeared on the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List 2024 alongside brother Aidan with an estimated net worth of over $900 million. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since Dr Sarah Crowe had her lightbulb idea, and invented her completely mobile, vision testing and glasses kit, then ran a trial in remote Papua New Guinea and started to show the impact her OOXii Vision Kit could have, to medical professionals in India and Vanuatu, she was inundated with positive reaction. Here was a complete system not only offering mobile eye testing, but also durable glasses frames, with prescription lenses in them, were then dispensed on the spot to people in remote or under-served communities, thereby improving their vision right there and then, in their home communities. It was life-changing. A fantastic entrepreneurial idea to fix a massive global problem. But Sarah’s journey with OOXii Global and her mission to help fix the world’s vision has not been without its challenges and significant hurdles along the way. Listen to Dr Sarah Crowe take up the story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While navigating Australia’s mental health system to deal with his personal assessment and ongoing care, entrepreneur Zac Altman felt frustrated and thought, quite simply, there must be a better way to help the huge number of adults with ADHD get the proper care and support they need. To help solve what he saw as a very large unmet demand problem, Zac created and built the start-up Kantoko, a telehealth service offering online assessments and ongoing care for adults with ADHD, but using an unusual business model – subscription services. Kantoko has been operational since early 2024, with patients accessing Kantoko’s team of experienced ADHD psychiatrists and GPs focusing on mental health. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When we last spoke to Luxury Escapes co-founder Adam Schwab, back in 2020, the online business had hit almost $500 million in sales. Today the luxury deals and discounts travel brand is ringing up over $1 billion in sales revenue, a doubling in 5 years. And it’s founder says it’s growing profitably, adding not only retail outlets, but Loyalty programs as well, to its online offering for travellers. Adam says he’s learned a heck of a lot in that time… hope you enjoy Adam Schwab. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Jesse Todd did grunt work on the IT “Help” desk in an investment bank many moons ago, he developed a passion for managing corporate data and information better. Over recent decades, as companies have got bigger, needing to hold ever more mountains of data and documents for compliance -- one of business’ biggest headaches -- Jesse saw a huge opportunity witnessing the way companies struggled to deal with those massive mountains of information, and turned his passion into reality by working away on a superior and elegant solution. He and a small clever team he pulled together created and developed EncompaaS, a software platform that helps large companies and govt departments, mostly in highly regulated industries, manage and organise their massive amounts of data - be it files, documents, emails, legal contracts, photos, videos - into a compliant and efficient library of information. This not only allows the organisation to know what’s IN their data, and how to locate it quickly, but it can then leverage that for the company’s good use. Jesse Todd has raised $30 million so far from investors, as he continues to develop EncompaaS to help solve the massive headache for corporates, that is data compliance and risk. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You could say Les Schirato had a key advantage in his early business journey… he married the boss’s daughter! The western Sydney born and bred son of Italian and Maltese migrants, Les started work at Vittoria Coffee before he’d even left school, loved it, and was asked back into the business while waiting for his HSC results. Les did indeed marry Luisa Cantarella, but he’d already earned his business stripes in the eyes of her father Orazio Cantarella, who’d started Vittoria in 1947 with his brother, importing Italian foods like cheese, pasta and mineral water. Les also had a successful stint outside the family business, having climbed executive ranks at Fiat. But since those early days, once Les and Luisa Schirato gained control of Vittoria, with other family members and more recently their son and daughter, they’ve built Vittoria into one of the largest and most successful family owned and run food and coffee groups in Australia. Along the way they turned Australia into a nation of coffee snobs and espresso lovers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sydney-based Tamar Krebs started as a Registered Nurse, but her decades of experience as a senior manager operating Retirement Villages, Nursing Homes and Dementia Units, led this visionary thinker to believe we needed to deliver much better care for our aged and demented loved ones; that the existing model of 100 people living under the one roof, in an institution, is not giving people who need assistance the best outcomes. Tamar decided the entire sector needed upending – to go from the merely task-focused Transactional, to Transformational care that allows older and demented people to live in a small household, a home of roughly 6- 10 residents, with a staff to client ratio of 1 “homemaker” to 3 or 4 residents, and where everyone is involved in running the household, just as had happened in disability care. But back in 2011 this maverick was not well-received. Tamar knocked on 62 potential investors’ doors, mostly pitching to nay-sayers who dismissed her idea of people with dementia living in a small assisted household on a regular suburban street. But she persevered and won over a couple of high net worth individuals, who understood her vision, and backed her with seed money to buy her first house. How she started with $5000 in her pocket just 13 years ago and grew her empire to now 22 homes all over Sydney, with 350 employees is an inspiring startup story, with lots of bumps and self-doubt along the way. Take a listen to Tamar Krebs, a true thinker out of the box. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adelaide-born and raised Sophie Lovejoy jumped from being a well-paid TV producer into the precarious, fickle world of fashion, when she started out creating and then manufacturing cute boxer shorts to sell in her mum’s homewares store in Norwood, Adelaide. Fast forward a few years and Sophie took the plunge to move herself and her business to Los Angeles. Along the way she had transformed her brand Sant and Abel, into a luxury sleepwear and leisurewear fashion range that caught the eye of celebrities like the Kardashians and TV host Jimmy Fallon, who gave her brand the tick of approval by wearing her PJs, thereby helping catapult Sant and Abel to brand awareness and sales stardom in the biggest, juiciest clothing market in the world, the USA. Hope you enjoy Sophie Lovejoy’s inspiring entrepreneurial story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sydney-raised and educated Benjamin Plummer transformed himself from a business adviser and analyst into a startup entrepreneur and a guru in Artificial Intelligence. Ben’s San Francisco-based company Invisible Technologies is quietly powering the AI revolution in the epicentre of AI development, the west coast of the United States. Now, Ben did not start Invisible Technologies, but as CEO he built it big and it is transforming how companies are built and run, by helping them utilise cutting-edge AI technology coupled with the very best human know-how. In a nutshell, Ben and his team have been training the AI used by the world’s leading generative AI providers such as Chat GPT, Google and Microsoft. He also helped build a commercial spin off company alongside the inventor of IBM’s Watson. Along the way Ben worked closely with US billionaire and hedge fund investing guru Ray Dalio at Bridgewater Associates. In this episode, Ben shares invaluable insights, experiences and lessons learned about his journey, and the rapidly-changing landscape of AI. Enjoy! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New episodes coming soon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you revolutionise medicine, helping develop an entire new field of medical science in this country? Well, back when he was a young doctor Professor Gab Kovacs did just that. By starting small and taking 1 step at a time he helped change the practice of reproductive medicine, by pioneering IVF in this country – “test tube” babies they used to be called - as an option for infertile couples to have children in the late 1970’s. Professor Kovacs worked with the greats, lead by Dr Carl Wood and Alan Trounson, those doctors and scientists who researched, tested, achieved breakthroughs and broke down barriers, to change the way infertility was treated and managed. This team was so successful, after years of hard work they built a thriving business that has enabled thousands of Australian women, and many more around the world, to have babies when their bodies’ biological doors seemed closed forever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In late 2023 we brought you an interview with serially successful entrepreneur Mark Woodland, who co-created and built the Kismet platform to provide digital tools to help NDIS participants easily link up with approved providers, reducing fraud and overcharging & improving compliance along the way. Kismet only began life as a business in August 2022, after Mark had kept the idea in his bottom drawer for 13 years. Then in early 2023 Mark raised a whopping $4 million from venture capital veterans AirTree Ventures, Daniel Petre AO and others, an enormous tick of approval for Mark Woodland, a former soldier and proud product of a single mum household. Now the latest news in September 2024, is Kismet completed a successful $32.5 million seed funding round from venture capital investors. Wow. Not bad for just over 2 years in business! Then again, Mark had already built successful childcare business, xplor, to streamline the admin process for parents and childcare operators alike, which he sold in 2020 to US private equity, reportedly making xplor worth $100 million, and putting Mark onto the Financial Review Young Rich List. Mark’s is such a remarkable startup journey, we thought we’d share it with you again. Enjoy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Babak Moini came to Australia with his family as an 8 year old, from Iran. He studied hard, went to university and became an actuary, earned good money. So far a fairly typical immigrant story. But Babak’s journey diverged considerably when he discovered retailing, of all things – his first foray was a small souvenir shop in Cairns - and he fell in love with the world of business, buying and selling. He dumped his actuarial career and with a co-founder friend, they ended up building a non-invasive beauty treatment empire, in Laser Clinics Australia, with some 80-plus clinics. What a wild ride it has been. Hope you enjoy Babak Moini. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After coming to Australia with just $600 in her pocket and a dream to see the world, young Mandy Foley fell into waitressing. What she found was a haphazard industry for workers, with little structure or professionalism. So over the past almost 4 decades Mandy set about changing that, building up her Stedmans Hospitality Services business, which she a couple of friends started from scratch in the mid-1980s. Stedmans agency essentially offers outsourced hospitality staff for events, parties, caterers and boardrooms, thereby she says, taking the worry out of hiring casual staff. For the workers she offers them structure, training, professionalism, and a family-type environment. Though she’s lived through many ups and downs, which she happily shares in our interview, Mandy has not only survived, she’s thrived, and gives back a hell of a lot, to charities and the community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.