Customer Profile

– Beata Koropatwa

Entrepreneur Beata Koropatwa has achieved stratospheric success ... but she won't rest on her laurels

As founder and CEO of IT solutions provider Auslaser Business Solutions, she has forged 30 years of growth servicing global blue-chip companies and some of Australia's best-known retail brands.

Beata's drive and passion have elevated her far beyond her humble start, made her an in-demand Board Chair and Member, and earned recognition from Australia's business and philanthropy communities.

There's no rest for Beata, who supports the emerging generation of Australian leaders and helps others help themselves.

'I am at the stage where if I can share some learnings and one person gets something out of it, I am doing my job. Investment in the next generation will help give us a much better world.'

Crediting a large part of her success to her self-belief, Beata often sees this quality missing in younger people.

'This next generation of leaders must get support – they are so smart and educated but lack confidence. When I was that age, you had to believe in yourself because there was nothing else.

'I've always had this 'never give up' attitude – I keep going and going. I don't compete against others – I compete against myself. My mum was an orphan and told us that the only competition is yourself – to be a better person.

'That's where my drive comes from.'

Beata recalls growing up in Inala in Brisbane with migrant and First Nations neighbours and gaining an ability to talk to people from all walks of life.

Beata's mother would make Polish dumplings to share with their neighbours, saying that you share whatever you have.

'With my business partner, we've always believed that if you give back, it comes back tenfold. But you need to give without expecting.'

Beata's strategy for giving focuses on maximising impact, now directed to women affected by domestic violence or without the confidence to realise their potential.

'I was chair of the Hunger Project for eight and a half years and realised you can make some big differences from relatively little. It doesn't take much to change lives.'

Beata has drawn on her entrepreneurial skills and humanitarian goals in her latest project, an international wellness business selling the antiageing product Protandim.

Protandim sells via direct marketing, and Beata supports a global team of women, advising them on how to run their businesses. She says many of them have recently divorced or faced other hardships, and their new businesses give them the ability to support themselves.

Beata got her first Porsche, a white 911, at 30. Her current Porsche, purchased last year, is black, and she laughs that its must-haves were a sunroof, seat warmers... and of course, tyres.

While delivering a keynote address a many years ago, Beata recalls being asked what authority she had to speak about hunger when she drove a Porsche – 'Doesn't that pose a contradiction to what you are trying to convey?'

Beata batted that back swiftly with an explanation of her philosophy: 'I believe that true success is achieved when you can share your personal gains with others. I love beautiful things, and I permit myself to have them. But I judge my personal success in my ability to help others less fortunate succeed. That’s always been my end goal.' •