Grow Magazine Autumn 2016

boom

looms MANUFACTURING SET TO TAKE OFF

ISSUE

02

APRIL 2016

Applications now open!

Applications for the Casey Cardinia Business Awards 2016 are now open!

Local businesses big and small are encouraged to enter, with finalists getting the chance to become the Casey Cardinia Business of the Year.

This year’s awards will feature 13 categories, where winners will claim some excellent prizes, including a share of $15,000 in prize money and outstanding exposure.

Free information sessions and mentor services are available to businesses applying for the awards.

Proudly supported by

For more information visit caseycardinia.com.au/businessawards 2

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Information sessions are available with Economic Development staff.

Bookings essential at caseycardinia.com.au/businessawards

CONTENTS

6-9

MANUFACTURING SET TO BOOM

10-11

PASSING ON LIFE-SAVING SKILLS

12-13

A FRESH LOOK TO FARMING

14-15

APPLES THE CORE OF BUSINESS

16-17

STEPPING THROUGH PLANNING PROCESS

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22-23 EDITOR

Garry Howe garry.howe@starnewsgroup.com.au Phone: 5945 0624

TIPS FOR STARTING A NEW BUSINESS

CASEY CARDINIA REGION Samantha Henderson shenderson@casey.vic.gov.au

ADVERTISING

22-23

INSPIRATION OVER BREAKFAST

Andy Jukes andy.jukes@starnewsgroup.com.au Phone: 5945 0666

24

Q&A WITH IAN ASH

DESIGN

25

TRY A TRADE AND CAREERS EXPO

30

THE REGION BY NUMBERS

31

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

28-29

Mark Dinnie mark.dinnie@starnewsgroup.com.au Grow.

Cnr Princes Hwy & Army Road Pakenham 3810 Phone: 5945 0666 Fax: 5945 0777 Produced and published by Paul Thomas for Star News Group Pty. Ltd. ACN 005 848 108.

Star News Group Trading Terms and Conditions can be found on www.starnewsgroup.com.au

Find an electronic version of Grow online at:

growcaseycardinia.com.au

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Cover The team at APT in Berwick – including Adam Sutton and business director Ron Weinzierl – are spearheading a manufacturing surge in the Casey Cardinia Region.

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MAYORS’ MESSAGE

Inspiration, advice and knowledge WE strongly believe in the message that Grow magazine demonstrates through its unique partnership, with the Casey Cardinia Region and Star News, and ambitious goal to be the preferred source of business news for the region.

We were overjoyed to hear that the first edition was so well received by readers and local supporting businesses.

It’s because of people like you who take a keen interest in the future of our region’s economy that this publication will continue to thrive – so thank you!

This second edition includes a feature on the region’s strongest performing sector, manufacturing. As it continues to provide critical outcomes for the region in relation to its high-performing exports, employment levels and ability to add value, some of the region’s most notable manufacturing

business weigh-in on the debate about its longevity.

In addition, it also navigates the process to receive a planning permit (which is required for actions such as subdividing, erecting advertising signs, changes to car parking or new developments) with an easy-toread diagram to ensure you’ve ticked all the right boxes before applying.

You can also follow the story of two local people with a disability who have become real assets to their respective employing businesses and are working hard to break down negative stereotypes. It’s a pleasure to feature such inspiration in Grow!

Casey mayor Sam Aziz (left) and Cardinia mayor Jodie Owen (second from right) with Casey Cardinia Foundation executive officer Therese Howell and Star News Group managing director Paul Thomas at the launch of Grow magazine. 148412

We hope that you can take some of the inspiration, advice and local knowledge within its pages to further grow your business.

– Cr Sam Aziz, Mayor City of Casey and Cr Jodie Owen, Mayor Cardinia Shire Council

Grow magazine was officially launched back in December.

GROW., is the new, quarterly, regional business magazine that will change the way you think about business in the Casey Cardinia region.

Developed in partnership with Star News Group and City of Casey and Shire of Cardinia Councils, the publication will shine light on local business’ successes, struggles and offer an opportunity for targeted business to business promotion.

GROW., will be distributed electronically to businesses within the region, available on the net and a select number of copies will be printed.

Register now to receive your free copy at growcaseycardinia.com.au or call 5945 0643

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NBN IS COMING TO PAKENHAM TM

on 29 April 2016

The National Broadband Network is a fast, smart and significant shift in the way Australia communicates. As the copper network is replaced and upgraded to optic fibre, we’re here to help bring new, improved phone and broadband solutions to your business.

The team of local experts at Telstra Business Centre Casey Cardinia can help put the NBN to work for you. Our experts will explain the benefits of the NBN, answer all your NBN questions and take care of the entire connection process, leaving you to focus on running your business. Come and talk to us about getting your business connected on the NBN.

Telstra Business Centre Casey Cardinia 12 Overland Drive, Narre Warren 3805 1300 T BUSINESS www.tbccaseycardinia.com.au

DON’T MISS OUR FREE INFO NIGHT! Nothing complex, just the basics to get you up to speed on the benefits of the new superfast network. Drinks and nibbles are on us.

BOOK YOUR SEAT NOW - www.tbccaseycardinia.com.au/nbn Telstra services on the National Broadband Network not available to all areas or premises. The spectrum device is a trade mark of Telstra Corporation Limited ABN 33 051 775 556.

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Where: Cardinia Cultural Centre, Lakeview Room When: Tuesday 12 April, 6pm to 8pm

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manufacturing

John Willems keeps an eye on the data at APT.

Region braces for a manufacturing boom

By CASEY NEILL THE Casey Cardinia Region is poised for a manufacturing boom.

Business director of Berwick component manufacturer Australian Precision Technologies (APT) Ron Weinzierl predicts “exciting times ahead” for the region.

That’s a view echoed by Casey Cardinia Business Group chair Ian Ash. In a Q&A interview with Grow (see pages 24-25), Mr Ash says the region is on the cusp of a growth spurt.

“I don’t think we have reached anywhere near to where we are going to be,” he said.

“The best is still to come – by far.

“The region has huge potential and there is a great deal of pride and innovation in the business community.

“APT, which started in 1992, is in line now for its best year in 24 years,” says Mr Weinzierl.

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“The last two years have been challenging,” he said.

“We used to be repetition, high volume automotive.”

Now the focus is advanced manufacturing – precision, small-run value for multiple customers.

“Advanced manufacturing equals sustainable business,” Mr Weinzierl said.

“The growth industries that we’re focused on are aerospace and defence.

“That’s where to make money.”

He said that money went back into innovation and employment.

“With government support, investment in technology and commercialisation to market, we’ve got opportunities to basically go from a small business to a medium enterprise,” he said.

“There’s huge potential.”

APT’s Adam Sutton and Ron Weinzierl.

And that potential extends to new manufacturers eyeing Casey and Cardinia for new facilities.

“There will be a huge growth in setting up businesses here because it’s all new,” Mr Weinzierl said.

“There’s not a lot of it – in Casey there is, in Cardinia it’s growing.”

He said the Councils were making setting up “a fairly simple process”.

“The best bit is we’ve gone through the infrastructure challenges and now we’ve got a process,” he said.

“I think there’s some exciting times ahead.

“There are good opportunities.”

Mr Weinzierl pointed to Pakenham, Officer and Berwick’s soon-to-be-closed Monash University site as key opportunities.

“We’re working with the site there at Monash Uni,” he said.

“We want to turn that into an advanced manufacturing RND (research and development) centre and we’re already talking with Casey about doing that.”

He said manufacturers could connect with local counterparts to build consortiums, and the workforce was available, too.

“The current automotive supply chain, there’s a lot of people that travel from Casey Cardinia to Port Melbourne, Altona,” he said.

“We need to stop them going down the M1 because it’s disastrous and we need to build the infrastructures so we keep them here so they’re travelling 10 to 15 minutes for work.”

South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA) executive officer Adrian Boden said Casey and Cardinia were part of the wider 'manufacturing zone’ and within minutes of any supply chain need.

“That supply chain factor I think has got to be sold more by the Councils,” he said.

“And that supply chain factor should be ‘you are in the manufacturing zone, so put your factory here and your access is to all of this and beyond’.

“It doesn’t matter what sector you’re in, you’re going to have that supply chain here.”

From biomedical to plastics, chemicals, vehicles, electronics and more, Mr Boden said it was all available “at no more than a half-hour drive”.

“Manufacturing is still growing, so there’s still an opportunity,” he said.

“Casey and Cardinia... they’ve got land.”

SEMMA executive officer Adrian Boden.

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Manufacturers on a mission

By CASEY NEILL SOUTH east manufacturers will take the spotlight and stop traffic in May at the Dandenong and South East Manufacturing Super Event.

Casey Cardinia region has thrown financial support behind the National Manufacturing Week event, organised by South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance (SEMMA), Committee for Dandenong and the City of Greater Dandenong.

Committee for Dandenong chairman Gary Castricum said last year’s Dandenong on Wheels event had impact.

“We got their attention,” he said.

“This time we’d like to close the main street to really get people’s attention.”

Mr Castricum said the showcase would also paint a positive picture for future customers, investors and suppliers.

Already financially committed to the event are Actco-Pickering, Bombardier, Chisholm, Cardinia Shire Council, City of Casey, Hilton Manufacturing, Iveco, M and K Lawyers, Norden Body Works, Volgren and Cablex.

Mr Castricum encouraged more businesses to get on board.

Mr Andrews said there was a lot of good work going on in the south eastern suburbs and he looked forward to attending the showcase.

Cardinia Shire Council CEO Garry McQuillan with Kingston City Council Mayor Geoff Gledhill, and City of Greater Dandenong's Mayor Heang Tak and CEO John Bennie. 146774

“People are trying very hard to not just talk about a new economy and new jobs but to create those really important opportunities – new products into new markets – using all the skills that we’ve got now to try and shape the future rather than being a victim of it,” he said.

“You can solve problems and turn them into the opportunities that we know they can be.

“It’s about time we were much more positive about the future – not naive, we do have some challenges, there’s no doubt about that – but let’s be upbeat and confident and let’s make sure that we take advantage of every opportunity.”

Ventura Bus Lines CEO David Willersdorf, Premier Daniel Andrews, Jill Walsh, Cablex managing director Michael Zimmer and Bombardier Transportations Rene Lalande. 146774

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manufacturing

Managing director Ray Keefe (centre) and the team at Successful Endeavours in Berwick (back) embedded developers Joyce Pinto and Matt Ratten and (front left) office manager Junette Keefe.

Successfully stemming the offshore tide PEOPLE enjoy visiting and shopping in Berwick for its tree-lined boulevards, heritage buildings, boutique shops and cafe culture.

But nestled in the heart of this quaint village resides an unlikely tenant – an electronics and embedded software development business – quietly making a big impact on the world manufacturing stage.

of the Year in 2010, Successful Endeavours has won a succession of regional, state and national awards including two of its products recognised at the 2015 state and national iAwards, for leading-edge technological innovation.

With a brand promise of “We make electronics work” and 16 major technology and business awards under its belt in the past six years, Successful Endeavours is both its name and nature.

While the high quality and innovative products Successful Endeavours makes are driving increased profits for its client manufacturers, the “exponential” mindset of its entrepreneurial owner – Ray Keefe – is just as important in fueling the success of this growing business in an industry where others are down-sizing, going offshore or closing their doors.

Since being named City of Casey Business

“Contrary to what many believe, electronics

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design and product development in Australia is both practical and profitable,” Ray says.

“In 1946, 90 per cent of all manufactured products used in Australia were made in Australia but in 2006, this figure had plummeted to just 10 per cent.

“It doesn’t make sense to ship raw material overseas then import the finished goods back here. Most of the income and profit is happening for someone else, somewhere else.

“It makes even less economic sense in the context of Australia’s distinct advantages when it comes to manufacturing.”

“Australia has the most cost effective technical workforce of all member countries in the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), manufacturing generates more indirect jobs per direct job than any other area of commercial activity (the Victorian Government puts this figure at 5 extra jobs per direct job) and we are well placed to export to Asia!

“In particular, there is a huge opportunity for electronics manufacturing to flourish in Australia. It is the most scalable, given the relative ease with which capacity can be added to products through existing local manufacturers.

“The key to low cost electronics manufacturing is to design a product to be efficiently and flawlessly made so that it continues to work correctly well past its warranty period.

“This is one of the secrets of our success and the strategy we have used to ensure electronics products manufactured in Australia by our clients are indeed competitive and profitable when compared with Asian imports.

“We need government decision-makers to realise this can become the norm for manufacturing rather than the exception.

While governments can help breathe new life back into Australian manufacturing, Ray believes individual business owners also have a key role to play, particularly in the way they think about developing solutions to manufacturing problems, which are really opportunities in disguise.

It doesn’t make sense to ship raw material overseas then import the finished goods back here... most of the income and profit is happening for someone else, somewhere else…

“Two other companies tried to build the electronics platform for the device and gave up before we got involved and came up with a world-first solution,” he explained.

“The combination of Bluetooth Smart, Qi Wireless Charging, 3G communications and GPS tracking in a device the surface area of a business card was a big technical challenge but by thinking differently, we got a different result than what had been previously thought possible.

“As Albert Einstein famously said, ‘We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them’.

“This is how manufacturers need to approach business. The traditional manufacturing business model has been transactional in nature, where the manufacturer gets paid for the component parts it makes. This type of thinking is holding the manufacturing industry back.

“We have been involved in many projects that break through the limiting belief barrier.“

“What’s needed is thinking that focusses on leverage; a systems-based approach that gives a greater outcome for effort rather than a component-based approach where the income stream ends once the part leaves the factory.”

Ray says developing the Skynanny.net child location tracking device, which won the Merit Award in the New Product category at the 2015 Victorian iAwards and was a finalist in the recent national iAwards, was a case in point.

Although Ray has been developing market leading electronics products in Australia for 30 years now, Successful Endeavours started from humble beginnings with 1.5 equivalent full-time staff in 2008 to nine employees, and an ecosystem of sub-contractors and

“Belief is a powerful thing – enabling beliefs enable and limiting beliefs limit,” he said.

other technically-based businesses in 2015. It develops a new product for local manufacture every two weeks.

This growth in business is a direct result of Ray honing his business acumen with the guidance of a business mentor and dedicating himself to becoming a more effective leader of self and others.

“As a small business owner, I made a great engineer. Once I addressed the weakness in my business skillset, I was able to build a successful business that has allowed me to make the difference to local manufacturers that was part of my original vision in starting Successful Endeavours,” he said.

“If you are a small business owner, it is likely that you will have gaps in your understanding of business and how to take your business to the next level. So my advice is to find a business mentor you can trust and let them help you. You don’t know what you don’t know!”

Successful Endeavours is certainly achieving extraordinary outcomes, not only in carving an exciting future for Australian electronics manufacturing, but helping build a stronger Australian economy by helping small to medium manufacturing businesses to grow.

People can connect with Ray at www.linkedin.com/in/raykeefe or www.successful.com.au

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Nikki Jurcutz and Rachael Waia in their Pakenham office. 151434

Empowering heroes

By KATHRYN BERMINGHAM

ON the wall at Hero HQ read the words: “game changers, risk takers, life savers”.

skills in a way that would engage students and empower them to act in emergency situations.

Sisters Nikki Jurcutz and Rachael Waia started Hero HQ in 2013, utilising Nikki’s skills as a paramedic and Rachel’s background in education.

The business now has three branches – Hero HQ provides corporate first aid training, Tiny Hearts specialises in teaching new and expectant parents how to deal with the most common medical emergencies facing babies and children, and the recently-launched Young Hearts teaches first aid with a focus on injuries and issues in young people, including drug and alcohol related issues and mental health.

Their idea was to provide first aid training done differently: to teach vitally important

Starting as a two-woman team operating out of a double garage, the business now

It’s an appropriate mantra for the Pakenhambased business, which is revolutionising the training industry and saving lives in the process.

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employs 30 staff and has successfully trained well over 10,000 people.

A strong social media strategy has played a significant role in its success, with the ‘tinyheartsfirstaid’ Instagram account attracting over 11,000 followers.

Last year, the growing company moved into a spacious new building on Southeast Boulevard in Pakenham, where long desks promote the team-focused culture of the business.

Several other strategies have been implemented to ensure that employees are able to reach their goals in a fun and supportive environment.

Lowdown on Silk degrees

By GEORGIA WESTGARTH A PROGRESSIVE and new culinary learning centre, Silk Education and Training, is building industry-ready chefs, bakers, kitchen hands and entrepreneurs from its Cranbourne hub.

Training Manager, Georgina Hamilton.

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The vocational education and training centre has been operating from the Cranbourne commercial kitchen for almost 12 months.

Hero HQ was founded in 2013 and now has 30 staff. 151434 Nikki and Rachael meet regularly with their staff and achievements are celebrated with affirmations and awards.

One of the challenges of the business was ensuring all trainers, who are located around Australia, are a part of that culture.

“We’re in regular contact with all of them,” Rachael explained.

“There’s a team Facebook page and we have a strong focus on improving and upskilling our trainers. We recently had our Perth trainer here for three days to continue her training, so we’re able to spend a fair bit of time with them.”

As a result, the pair is inundated with applications each time they advertise, and interview an average of 20 people per vacancy.

They see their location in the growth corridor as an asset to their business.

“We saw a gap in the market in our local community,” Nikki said.

Offering an extensive range of certificates from commercial cookery to hospitality, Silk also provides day courses for immediate entry level jobs.

Silk training manager Georgina Hamilton said locals were able to book in for accredited and non-accredited courses.

“We run a one day food handling course and first aid course, as well as skills courses like latte art, cupcake making and food plating which aren’t accredited,” Georgina said.

But it’s Silk’s ability to offer adaptable courses with highly skilled professional trainers that sets it apart.

“All of our trainers are current in the industry, they eat, breath and sleep hospitality and some still work in the industry outside of their teaching,” she said. “This means once our students graduate, they have current skills and knowledge that can be applied immediately.

“Our trainers are very adaptable and able to tailor classes to meet the needs of their students and a lot of out our students already work in the industry and come to us to grow their skills in a certain area.”

Silk’s state of the art Cranbourne kitchen

is its latest to open in Melbourne, with facilities also available in North Melbourne and a soon to open training kitchen in South Melbourne.

With 800 students across the state, Cranbourne currently has around 100 students listed but Georgina hopes that number will grow.

“We have trainees aged from 18 to 60 and we hold 16 students in each class, so they are nice and small,” she said.

“Silk has been around for five years, we are very young and taking the industry by storm in hospitality training.”

The organisation also has access to offshore kitchens and puts their students through on the job experience in Melbourne restaurants, cafes and hospitality establishments.

But it’s their “feel good” work which Ms Hamilton holds dear.

“We ran a course for disadvantaged people in India, they came from villages to Deli and received Silk training in hospitality, before the course was finished some had landed jobs in hotels.”

“This is a real growth area, there’s a lot of young people and young families, and there’s a real need for the services we provide.”

Their work to fill that gap has earned them awards on a local and national scale. In 2014 and 2015, they took out Casey-Cardinia Business Awards, and say the support from Council has been invaluable.

But their eyes are firmly on the future, with Hero HQ’s services in high demand and their model changing the way businesses and individuals learn first aid.

“There’s really no limit on how big we’d like it to get,” Nikki said. “When people think First Aid training, we want them to think Hero HQ.”

Trainer, Cary Burnett with student Layne in the Cranbourne commercial kitchen.

151377 Pictures: STEWART CHAMBERS

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William Pham and Jan Vydra. 150965 Pictures: GARY SISSONS

FRESH LOOK TO FARMING

By CASEY NEILL AUSTRALIAN Fresh Leaf is turning to agritech for a slice of the Asian revolution.

The Clyde-based herb producer unveiled a new greenhouse at its Devon Meadows site in March, designed to deliver a 75 per cent increase in yields, with the help of Coles.

Television screens guide employees on exactly when and what herbs to plant, pick and pack.

The herbs are growing on Dutch-designed rolling benches that can be pushed together

to increase planting space, and rolled into an adjoining shed so employees can harvest the herbs at the one location.

They use 85 per cent of available space, compared to grow-beds which only use 60 per cent.

“This new era of farming welcomes forwardthinking businesses,” he said.

Jan Vydra and William Pham founded Australian Fresh Leaf in 2008 and started out producing 2000 bunches of herbs each week.

City of Casey mayor Sam Aziz said the project was a prime example of the innovation that the Casey Cardinia Region actively encouraged.

“We ducked out of our corporate jobs and took a bit of a risk, and our vision was to be the leader in the horticulture industry, to grow beautiful herbs and to evolve farming practices by using sustainable practices and innovative practices,” Mr Vydra said.

He said the evolution of agri-tech would bring IT professionals, programmers and scientists onto farms.

Today it produces 150,000 bunches, pots and punnets of 60 different varieties of herbs, edible flowers and Australian natives.

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Mr Pham had two greenhouses at Clyde when Mr Vydra brought to the table his experience running fruit and vegetable distributor Yarra Valley Farms.

“I started to get a lot of complaints about fresh herbs,” Mr Vydra said.

“Herbs were really important to chefs because all the products really differentiate their plates and give their customers an experience.

“I had a hospitality focus to start with but I switched to retail very quickly because those food competition programs just took off.”

Mr Vydra said Australian Fresh Leaf’s success was thanks to a “persistence to challenge the norm and look for a better way to do things”.

“We have bold plans,” he said.

“We want to expand our operations over the next 12 to 18 months to open a new 30,000 square metre new facility, hopefully in the City of Casey, and expand into New South Wales over the next three to five years.”

“We want export to be the biggest part of our business,” Mr Vydra said.

“We’re focusing on establishing those relationships with major retailers and also chefs around Australia, but we’ve got

Casey mayor Sam Aziz speaks at the greenhouse launch.

23 million people in Australia.

“Realistically we’re touching 70 per cent of the nation, which is 16 or 17 million people.

“Going into Asia, we suddenly have half a billion people that we can access, that are changing their habits and becoming more Westernised and looking for Western products.”

Mr Vydra was Australia’s 2011 Young Farmer of the Year and last year received a Nuffield Australia Farming Scholarship and $30,000 from the William Buckland Foundation to study various innovative farming techniques.

Coles last September awarded Australian Fresh Leaf its Rising Star Award and in November gave the company a $430,000 interest-free loan for its new greenhouse.

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He’s adding an Aboriginal native food walk, inviting chefs to trial new varieties onsite in a shipping container kitchen and introducing a Salad Door - his take on a wine tasting space.

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Nine Mile Fresh director James Ryan.

Apples ARE the core of business

By CASEY NEILL HUNDREDS of bright green apples bob along water-filled lanes in a Tynong as they start their journey towards fruit bowls around the country.

“Apples are our core business,” Nine Mile Fresh director James Ryan said.

The company moved into the purpose-built packing facility in December 2013.

“We’d originally bought the five acres where the existing factory is over there. We retrofitted them into controlled atmosphere rooms.

“When we decided to build a pack-house we bought the land here.”

The 40-acre purchase and subsequent build was a breeze with help from Cardinia Shire Council.

“They were very helpful with getting the plans in, quickly approving and discussing what had to be done if it was to get through to make sure there were no major hold-ups,” James said.

“We’ve been here two years packing and the shed was built a year before that.

“This is a combination of two families, so two base orchards, which is Bon View Orchards based down in Officer and

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They (Cardinia Shire) were very helpful with getting the plans in, quickly approving and discussing what had to be done if it was to get through to make sure there were no major hold-ups.

Battunga Orchards, based in the Yarra Valley.

“The pack-house is a combined effort between those two orchards to build a super pack-house, basically.

“We grow a lot of our own fruit and we also have growers around the country – Shepparton, Tassie, south-east South Australia,” he said.

“We look after their apples and store them and market and pack all their apples and go through the year like that.”

“We call it 9 Mile Fresh and that’s how we market all the apples.

“It’s just economies of scale.

“It’s reducing labour costs, it’s making the whole packing process more efficient, to reduce the costs of packing apples.

“Consolidation of packing facilities seems to be the way forward for the industry to survive.”

Mr Ryan said almost $30 million went into setting up the warehouse.

“We have CA storage over here, so state-ofthe-art CA which is controlled atmosphere,” he said.

“That’s how you store apples, by controlling the atmosphere in the rooms.

“We normally handle 30,000 tonne of apples in a year.

“They come from the CA rooms or the growers around the country who send them and transport them down.

“The whole shed revolves around the European method of packing apples.

“We’ve got the latest in robotics and automation, which helps.

“When the apples get taken over to be packed, they’re packing apples that are all

the same characteristics, size.”

Nine Mile Fresh has 15 full-time employees and packing staff as required.

“That can be another 50 people,” Mr Ryan said.

“We’re growing all the time.

“It’s continuing to grow into other lines of fruit as well – avocados, cherries, kiwi fruits – we’re starting to pre-package those sorts of fruit and making every effort to utilise the facility.”

“We want to continue to grow with our customers.“

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“We pre-size the apples first through sophisticated computer vision, which sorts the apple out without the need for labour.

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Different strokes

By NARELLE COULTER IN a hyper busy world, Andrea Hopgood has carved out a business where people are happy to pay to slow down, chat, relax and create.

Andrea operates Paperworks Gallery from her home in Berwick.

She and husband David purpose-built a light, airy open shed a few steps from the back door of their historic Inglis Road property to house Paperworks.

On the day Grow visited, sun filled the Paperworks studio, music played softly in the background and the walls were filled with paintings and ceramic creations, many of them Andrea’s own.

Playing distractedly with a paintbrush as she speaks, Andrea said Paperworks offered “a slow comfortable relationship, a connection through art”.

“People are really seeking time for themselves but also conversation. I’m selling a slow, comfortable relationship.

“This is a peaceful place to be and work.

I play music; we have a glass of wine. One woman said to me ‘I just love you because you make me a cup of tea’.”

The former art teacher offers small classes of six to eight for adults and has recently resumed classes for children.

She also conducts workshops and hosts events and exhibitions.

She has achieved, you suspect, the perfect work life balance.

Andrea’s first steps towards self-employment started when she opened a small picture framing business to supplement her income as a part-time teacher at Kooweerup Secondary College.

Andrea Hopgood at work in her Paperworks Gallery. 150342 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS

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�My artistic brain had to change shape and consider things like marketing and networking, which was a challenge…

She then opened a little gallery in the main street of Pakenham sharing space with a real estate agency.

The death of her son, Frazer, in 2011 brought the wrenching realisation that she didn’t want to return to classroom teaching and instead wanted to grow her own business.

“Business is not my strong suit. It almost happened by necessity. My son’s passing forced me to realise that I wanted to be at home. It forced me to grow the business, to look at my skill set and put myself out there and forge a different working life.”

She soon realised that her years in the classrooms had equipped her with skills that were transferable to business; skills like time management, communication and budgeting.

“My artistic brain had to change shape and consider things like marketing and networking, which was a challenge. I don’t feel confident in that area but you just have to do it.

“I think I was actually holding it back. It was a beast raring to go.”

Andrea quarantines two days a week to concentrate on her own work. One day is devoted to bookwork and social media and two days to teaching.

She said the City of Casey had been “fabulous”, particularly the “very strong arts team who have helped me and encouraged me”.

She has also had enormous support from family and friends, not least husband David who is also an artist. Many of his sculptures fashioned from reclaimed timber and metal dot the grounds of Paperworks.

And of course, then there are the giant cypress pencils, a neighbourhood landmark.

Faced with cutting down seven massive cypress trees two years ago, the couple hired a cherry picker and David fired up his chainsaw creating giant coloured pencils.

“It was a lovely process, it really opened up our property,” smiled Andrea.

“And it’s all interconnected because doing that has made people notice the business.”

“Everything evolves and changes and I’m open to that.”

After concluding the interview with Grow, Andrea headed off to the city to an art exhibition with two students who have become friends.

“A lot of people are interested in art but feel there must be tricks, they don’t know about.

I want to make it accessible to everyone,” she explained.

“I like to think I am helping people on their artistic journey and exposing them to things they would not have looked at previously.

“This is not a fast-paced business. It’s slow, it’s meditative. It gets under your skin.”

Samina (left) with DVJS business development executive Melanie Bray and Cafe Transylvania propietors Ionela and Ion Maroti. 151290

Help goes both ways

By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS JUST getting that first foot in the door can make the difference.

Hallam eatery Cafe Transylvania offered a priceless opportunity for job seeker Samina to learn the kitchen’s ropes, train as a barista and earn a wage under a disability employment program.

She has proved a godsend for the cafe’s owners Ion and Ionela Maroti, who were overworked and gasping for a helping hand.

During her three-month placement, Samina has impressed the owners as she’s served food, cleaned floors and helped prepare the highly-reputed Romanian sausages, cabbage rolls and profieroles.

Mr Maroti, who crossed the world from Romania to start the business, said he was happy to give Samina a chance.

“I’ve heard some employers take advantage of disabled workers. We try to be as one with them," he explained.

“When you think about it nobody is 100 per cent fit, and nobody gives them a chance.

We try to help.”

“The good thing is employers can trust us, that we’ll get it right when we match a client to them.”

Samina had also injected some diversity, some non-Romanian culture, into the cafe.

Sometimes it’s hard to convince employers to hire their clients, whose disabilities include mild intellectual disabilities, physical injuries, mental illness and recovering from cancer.

“It’s been good for her self-confidence; good help for her and a help for us,” Mr Maroti said.

Since then, the cafe is seeking another trainee barista from the same jobs program.

Samina was part of a Dandenong Valley Job Service program, which has placed thousands of clients in work in Melbourne’s east and south-east since 1993.

It offers a wage subsidy and free training for each client taken on by an employer.

DVJS business development executive Melanie Bray said the service’s high reputation was shown by its masses of return business.

Many bosses are won over by the clients’ hunger for learning and hard work.

Cafes, for example, are spoilt for choice for new employees. Rarely would they opt for a person with a disability over a similarly qualified able-bodied person.

Facing that discrimination, it takes a lot of courage for clients to keep applying for jobs.

Ms Bray says her agency allows clients to try out for work without the stress of competing with anyone else.

Often they then gain the confidence to apply and win another job.

For details, call DVJS on 1300 385 738.

19

Questions to ask before starting a business 1. Do you know where to find support and advice?

4. Do you know how to develop:

• Partnership

• A business plan.

When starting a business, there is a range of advice and support available from government and other organisations.

• A marketing plan.

A partnership is a type of structure where two or more people start a business and can legally share profits, risks and losses according to terms set out in a partnership agreement.

They must lodge a separate partnership income tax return.

This includes information and advice on managing cash flow, stocktaking, and obtaining funding and training.

For information get in touch with the nearest government funded small business advisor using the Advisor Finder search tool.

Just enter the type of advice that is wanted, the industry and location, and Advisor Finder will produce a tailored map with details of the nearest advisors.

The site business.gov.au provides an initial point of contact to get access to information and referral services that assist small businesses, including independent contractors.

Chat online with questions about business, business information, using business.gov. au, referral services and other queries at business.gov.au - Web Chat.

2. Do you know what business events are happening near you?

Small business workshops and seminars are run regularly in most areas of Australia and deal with issues such as planning, financial management, innovation, employing staff and exporting and expanding businesses.

Developing networks enables businesspeople to keep up to date with industry and local information, promote business through new contacts and learn key skills from other businesses.

• An export plan.

• A succession plan.

• An emergency management and recovery plan.

5. Have you worked out your best source of finance?

There are several sources to consider when looking for finance for your business, such as: • Loans from a bank or other financial institution.

• Using personal savings.

• Borrowing money from friends and relatives.

A trust is a relationship where a business is transferred to a third party who has legal control and has a duty to run that business to benefit someone else. You must lodge a separate trust income tax return.

However, it’s important that the fee covers the true cost of providing the service, including the costs associated with running a business. It also helps to know what competitors charge.

• Company

10. Do you have workers compensation insurance?

Contact a business advisor for advice. Also consult your accountant or solicitor.

7. Are you an independent contractor?

• Venture capital.

6. Do you know which business structure suits your business?

Before starting a business, you should consider the advantages and disadvantages of each type of business structure and decide which best suits your needs.

Your business structure can affect the safety of your personal assets and taxation obligations.

A change in ownership of an ongoing business may require a new registration to be made depending on the type of structure the business operates.

• Sole trader A sole trader is a type of structure where the business has no separate legal existence from its owner.

3. Do you know whether your activity is a business or a hobby?

Sole traders need to be responsible for their business liabilities.

Businesses pay tax on the money they earn, can claim for deductions on expenses and generally need an Australian Business Number (ABN). These do not apply if an activity is a hobby.

They need to report their business income on their personal income tax return, along with any other income.

20

Fees are a matter for negotiation between the parties.

• Government funding.

• Finance leases.

Unlike employees, contractors are not entitled to a minimum rate of pay or conditions such as annual leave, sick leave and redundancy entitlements.

• Trust

A company is a legal entity separate from its members (shareholders). A director of a company has additional legal and reporting obligations. They must lodge a separate company income tax return.

• Chattel mortgages.

9. Do you know what to consider when charging for your services?

It’s important for a businessperson to establish if they’re considered a contractor or an employee under common law before they enter into a contract with a hirer, as their status will determine which laws apply to the contract.

For example, contractors need to be treated differently to employees for tax and superannuation purposes.

It is possible to be an employee for some work and a contractor for other work.

Having an Australian Business Number (ABN) does not automatically make you a contractor.

8. Are you aware of your taxation obligations?

Contractors have different taxation obligations to employees. For more information, visit the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) website at ATO - Business or phone the ATO Business tax enquiries line on 13 28 66.

Some contractors are entitled to receive superannuation.

Contractors may choose to arrange their own super contributions.

11. Are you aware of Intellectual Property (IP) related issues?

Although contractors may have created or contributed material to products and ideas they may not be entitled to IP ownership of these items. This will depend on the contract.

12. Do you know what to include in a contract?

Avoid disputes and misunderstandings with hirers by making written contracts.

Getting the contract right in the first place means fewer problems down the track.

13. Try to prevent problems and deal effectively with things when they do go wrong Try to prevent disputes, as they have the potential to take up time and resources away from growing a business. Read Business Victoria’s publication Independent Contractors: Preventing and Managing Disputes.

For more information on all these subjects go to business.vic.gov.au.

CHANGING THE WORLD

By LACHLAN MOORHEAD AT 23, Ben Cherrie is well on his way to achieving his dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Ben is a co-founder of Sir Conrad, a high-end mobile application design and development company which already has a stack of bigname brands on board.

Not bad for a Berwick boy who dropped out of school in Year 10.

Ben sees Melbourne as the “entrepreneurial hub” of Australia and Sir Conrad is his, and his colleagues, attempt to tap into that potential.

“Ours is a start-up methodology that is hard to come across,” Ben told Grow.

“As entrepreneurs we found a gap in the market.

“We see Melbourne as the entrepreneurial hub of Australia and Australia as the gateway to Asia.”

Sir Conrad has helped develop apps for a range of different companies, including Nickelodeon Australian, Monash Health, Living Legacy and a bunch of others.

Going back even just a few years ago, it’s hard for Ben to imagine the business opportunities that would open up for him.

“I left school at Year 10 and worked as an apprentice cabinet maker, it was the toughest year of my life,” Ben said.

“I went back to school and did Year 12, went to TAFE, did a bunch of diplomas, went to uni and did one year of a Bachelor of Entrepreneurship.”

Ben always found himself thinking of new business ideas.

The co-founders of Sir Conrad – Simon Rahme, Ben Cherrie and David Cherrie – are amping up the work on their start-up app design business. 150377

Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS “During my second year of uni I wasn’t that excited so I started to defer and focused on the cleaning business, then my brother came into the entrepreneurial scene and then soon I met Simon.”

Ben’s referring to the other co-founders of Sir Conrad – Simon Rahme, also a development partner, and David Cherrie, Ben’s brother.

“The belt we’re in, in Abbotsford and Richmond, it’s a bit of a creative belt and it resembles what happened in Silicon Valley.

“We need to keep empowering entrepreneurs in Melbourne and Australia.”

So, where does the name Sir Conrad come from?

Well, it turns out Sir Conrad is a character who just wanted to change the world – much like Ben.

“I needed a source of income so I started a cleaning business, and I was cleaning a local church,” he said.

“There’s been massive growth in the entrepreneurial space in Melbourne,” Ben said.

For more information, and for the full story behind the company’s name, visit sirconrad.com.

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21

Holly Ransom explains how she regularly puts herself in a position of fear. To hear that part of her address go to growcaseycardinia.com.au

Guest speaker Holly Ransom poses for a ‘selfie’ with the City of Casey’s Wendy Goldsack.

Talkin ’bout her generation

By GARRY HOWE

apologise,” her grandmother demanded.

IT takes a certain confidence, coupled with a keen social conscience, to influence world leaders like Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin as the first youth representative at a G20 Summit.

The man muffled a barely audible apology and scuttled away, highly embarrassed.

Holly Ransom did just that and told a packed room of Casey Cardinia Region businesspeople at the year’s first business breakfast that her resolve to make a difference was developed at age five after a supermarket standoff involving her “most favourite person in the world” – her grandmother.

Holly told the Cranbourne Racing Complex crowd on 9 March that her grandmother, who stands barely five feet (152cm) tall, confronted a “six feet something” giant who was dressing down a heavily-acned youth on the other side of the checkout.

Cardinia councillor Graeme Moore asks Holly about volunteerism. 150955

22

She said the sight of her grandmother inserting herself between the aggressor and the poor supermarket employee sticks with her to this day.

“How dare you speak like that – go over and

When young Holly turned to her grandmother for an explanation of the events, she replied that: “If you walk past something like that you tell the world that you think it’s okay”.

“Everything I did from that moment forward changed,” Holly said.

Only a few years later, when walking down a city street with her parents, her social conscience kicked in and she stopped to have a conversation with a homeless man.

Holly remarked that the $4 in his collection wasn’t much and the man replied that it represented a good day.

From that moment on, she says, she wanted to help make the world a better place. The next day she enlisted the help of her school principal and class teacher to organise a food drive, collecting cans for charity.

Holly Ransom attracted a big crowd to the Cranbourne Racing Complex for the first Casey Cardinia Business Breakfast for the year. 150955 Now in her mid-20s, Holly has travelled the world and sat down for what she calls ‘coffee chats’ with strangers she now calls mentors, and business minds she rubs shoulders with on a global scale.

Holly, a lawyer and CEO of her company Emergent Solutions, can be described as a social entrepreneur. She was the world’s youngest Rotary Club president and the youngest person to be named in Australia’s ‘100 Most Influential Women’.

At just 21, the West Australian was approached

by Rio Tinto Iron Ore boss Sam Walsh to help transform his business.

Holly was a youth representative at last year’s G20 Summit and she raised a laugh at the breakfast when explaining what she learned a lot about seating arrangements.

“You don’t sit Russian President Vladimir Putin next to Barack Obama.”

Holly turned the audience’s attention to how they could better implement changes to drive youth employment and engagement in their business as well as the not-for-profit sector.

She said she wanted to see more intergenerational leadership occur through both generations working together.

Holly used her age and experience to speak for youth all over the world.

She told the G20 of the scary figures we faced in youth employment.

“By 2025 three-quarters of the workforce is going to be under 30, and currently one in three young people finish the certificate or course they start,” she said.

Holly said some countries had youth unemployment rates of 55-60 per cent and suggested that 60 per cent of the jobs today would disappear through initiatives like robotics and digitalisation.

She encouraged those business people present to work with educational institutions, lamenting the fact that Australia had the “wooden spoon” when it came to that relationship.

“We rank 33 out of the 33 OEDC countries.”

Holly defended the Gen Ys from critics who said they had a short attention span. “No, we have a short interesting span,” she countered.

She said her generation was exposed to nine hours of media per day and were skeptical of advertising.

The likes of oil spills and the recent VW environmental scandal had led to “enormous leaking from the bucket of trust”.

The Gen Ys wanted companies to show they genuinely cared about social issues.

Holly shared the story of Annie, a 10-year-old West Australian student who, along with her classmates, was given $10 to spend over two weeks to help make a difference in the world.

Some of Annie’s classmates put their $10 into a donation bin, others used it to buy food for a shelter.

Annie went out and hired two DVDs and, charging an entry fee, her two movie nights filled school halls. She turned her $10 into $356 and was able to have a bigger impact with that money.

Holly, who will be back in the region in April to talk to service clubs about volunteerism, challenged those present to: “Give yourself 10 bucks in two weeks to have a go”.

She also revealed another talent. Having attended circus school from aged 10, she mastered the unicycle – a skill she says mirrors life in a way.

“If you want to stay up on a unicycle you have to have your eyes up and looking ahead,” she explained. “In a business sense, that is looking at where your customers and markets are going.

“If you are looking at your feet, that’s where you will go. The only way you can stay on top is to keep moving. The moment you stop, you fall off.”

Breakfast MC Russell Robinson, from the Melbourne Football Club, summed up the sentiment of the room after Holly’s address.

“We have to promote people like Holly to our kids, rather than the fallen heroes who tend to make the front page of the paper for making a mistake.”

Holly Shepherd and Rebecca Sayers from Redsteps enjoyed Holly Ransom’s address. 150955

Pencil in these dates THOSE in the business community need to pencil in three important breakfast dates this year.

The three remaining Casey Cardinia Business Breakfasts will be held on 15 June, 7 September and 23 November.

Renowned businessman Gerry Ryan and futurist Chris Riddell will speak at the September and November breakfasts and a speaker for the June date will be announced shortly (keep an eye on the Casey Cardinia Region and Grow websites and Facebook pages).

Mr Ryan is a Melbournebased businessman and entrepreneur with diverse interests in manufacturing, entertainment, wine, hospitality, property and sport in Australia and overseas. He will speak at the September breakfast.

In November, guests will hear from Mr Riddell, Australia's most sought after futurist. He is an award-winning, industryrecognised keynote speaker on digital and is also a renowned strategist and global emerging trend spotter for businesses and leaders.

23

Q&A

Ian Ash, Casey Cardinia Business Group chair

Ian Ash. Describe a typical working day…

The best thing about what I do is that I don’t have a typical working day. The work is so varied. I do similar things – working on business strategy and training – but because the businesses are so different, nothing is the same. That’s what I love about my job.

What are your impressions of the Casey Cardinia Region from a business perspective?

I don’t think we have reached anywhere near to where we are going to be. The best is still to come – by far.

The region has huge potential and there is a great deal of pride and innovation in the business community.

We have a quite robust collaboration; people with similar services willing to work together for mutual benefit.

However, I have seen a reluctance to be trained and take advice. I know that plays in to my area of business, but I think we need to develop that more.

What has been your biggest career success to date?

I was really proud, when working as an engineer, to be invited to lead an international team at Bell Labs for AT&T in Chicago for two years. It had a huge impact on me from a professional sense and, in a personal sense, gave me the opportunity to live and work overseas.

In more recent years, I particularly enjoyed working with Greenview Accounting Group when it was judged Cardinia’s Shire Business of the Year in 2013.

24

Ian Ash has been fortunate to have held a wide range of positions in the business world, with a track record of success, and currently puts that experience to good use as managing director of OrgMent Business Solutions.

His company provides business advisory, coaching and mentoring services to help transform the business performance of small to medium enterprises. Ian is a credited associate of the Institute of Independent Business, which gives him access to a global and national network.

He has a real passion for working with businesses to get results they didn’t think were possible. Wife Kristine works in the not-for-profit sector for Everyday Hero and they have two children – James 30, a pharmacist, and Laura, 29, a clinical psychologist. Ian and Kristine have lived in the CaseyCardinia region since 1998 and are currently building a new home in Upper Beaconsfield.

What has been your biggest career failure to date?

Before starting my own business I headed up a Boeing subsidiary in Australia, working on aviation simulation systems. I managed to reduce the losses of the company but didn’t manage to get it in to profitable territory, which was disappointing.

What did you learn from that experience?

I really took three things out of that, which now shape what I do to a large degree. 1 – The importance of having a good business model; I didn’t really understand what it was at the time. 2 – I realised I didn’t need to have all the answers. As a CEO you don’t need to know all the answers, but you have to know where to get them. 3 – The need for good systems and processes – you have to know your numbers.

If you had to invite five people to a business luncheon, who would they be and why?

Malcolm Turnbull – I have met Malcolm and he is one of the nicest people I have come across.

US President Barack Obama – He has such presence and charisma. You can tell his thinking is external and not about him. He must be the least shallow of all American presidents.

Steve Jobs – He is a must because of his acute thinking and ability to see things from a different perspective – his ability to make the impossible seem possible.

Einstein – I did a degree in applied mathematics and I am still fascinated by relativity.

By simple observations, he came up with a model that changed the way we view the universe.

Jim Collins – The author of books like Good to Great, Built to Last and How the Mighty Fall, he put years of study into business and leadership.

I realise it would be pretty heavy dinner conversation and I was tempted to put singer Lana Del Ray in there to lighten it up a bit, as long as she sat next to me!

How do you relax away from work?

My wife would say I don’t get to relax that often, but I think I do. I am probably a lot busier running my own business, but not nearly as stressed as I used to be. I play the guitar and get it out when I can for half an hour at night. I enjoy running, mainly for fun but competitively on occasions. I do the Puffing Billy Fun Run every year. I also like to walk and have been known to enjoy a sip of red wine.

Tell us something most people would not know about you?

A few years back I learned to fly an aircraft.

I have always had a passion for flying and as a kid wanted to become a pilot. I’m glad I didn’t do that now, because it’s a bit like being a glorified bus driver. What do they say – five per cent terror, 95 per cent boredom?

I don’t fly much now but (wry smile) when the business starts to take off I might have to take it up again. I do love the freedom of getting up into the air.

What is your business mantra?

To be open to new ideas, input and insights.

You can always learn things from other people – we don’t know what we don’t know.

Helping build careers

By LACHLAN MOORHEAD

opportunities for young people.

THE South East Try-a-Trade and Careers Expo is a pivotal event for local students as they try to figure out their future.

This year will be no different, with the expo taking place on Tuesday 19 April at the Cranbourne Racing Complex, with thousands of eager young people expected to turn out to the event.

The exhibition is organised by the South East Local Learning and Employment Network (SELLEN), supported by several sponsors including the Casey Cardinia Region and Star News Group.

It aims to provide more local job

More than 2000 students are expected at next month’s event, which will be the eighth annual Try a Trade.

“It’s one of the big flagship events for the region when it comes to careers,” SELLEN CEO Andrew Simmons said.

Trades on display include carpentry, plumbing, tiling, bricklaying, painting, hair and beauty, engineering and many others.

In addition to hands-on practical components at the expo, the event also allows students the opportunity to talk to qualified trades people and career advisers about the different occupations and pathways available within the trade areas.

“It’s an opportunity for young people to have a look at and actually get their hands dirty,” Mr Simmons said.

“If they’re thinking about being a bricklayer, they can talk to brick layers and come and lay some bricks.”

Mr Simmons said there would 70 different trade and career options to choose from at the expo.

“Come on down and explore your future opportunities,” he said.

For more information on the Try a Trade and Careers Expo, contact SELLEN on 9794 6921, or the City of Casey’s Economic Development Department on 9705 5200.

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HOME AND AWAY

IT’S WILD OUT THERE Grow takes a look at what those in business and industry do when they are not working - what drives them at home and away from the office, shop or factory floor. To begin the series, we discover that Tim Leed of Melbourne Rotomould has a penchant for extreme sports, as CASEY NEIL reports.

TIM Leed found a passion for the extreme through Scouts.

Mr Leed also found a love for caving through Scouts, guiding children through the experience.

“I went through Cub Scouts, Venturers and Rovers.

I spent nearly 20 years being a leader,” he said.

“They take kids away about once a month at Mount Eccles or Buchan or Britannia Creek,” he said.

“That started things.”

The director of Pakenham plastic manufacturer Melbourne Rotomould hang-glides “a couple of times a month”.

“I had my first experience with hang-gliding on a Venturer camp in Tasmania on a simulator,” Mr Leed said.

“It was a 200-metre flying fox off a cliff.

“Hang-gliding is the closest form of flying to what it would feel like to be a bird.

Hiking.

26

“There’s heaps of flying sites all around Victoria – inland including Mount Buffalo, Bright, Mount Beauty and over the other side of town near Beaufort, then coastal sites like Kilcunda, Portsea, Flinders, Lorne...”

“Some caves have really tight sections – to fit through you have to fully exhale and jam yourself through without breathing – and others you could drive a bus through.

“It’s good fun pushing people’s boundaries, and it’s very rewarding to work with someone to overcome a challenge or fear and then ‘turn around afterwards to hear them say a big thankyou’ and likely have another go!

“It’s also great exercise – imagine crawling along a 30 metre low tunnel on your elbows and toes.

It certainly activates the core muscles.”

He also counts rock-climbing, dirt and mountain biking, sailing, four-wheel driving, kayaking, skiing, mountaineering and hiking among his pastimes.

Hang-gliding.

“I think it’s good to be busy and to do stuff and not to just sit at home and watch TV,” he said.

Tim takes on caving.

“It’s good to be active – it’s important for your health and it’s good for your mind.”

Mr Leed said his hobbies put him in the right mind-frame to tackle his working week, although they could also be a hazard.

“I’ve dislocated my shoulder hang gliding, rock climbing and kayaking,” he said.

“You’ve just got to be careful.”

Melbourne Rotomould started nine years ago and has about 45 employees.

The smallest part Rotomould manufactures weighs just 70 grams. The largest is 500 kilograms.

“Water tanks is a large part of what we do, but we do custom and contract moulding as well so that could be anything,” he said.

Mr Leed wants to tackle more “back-country skiing, like up Mount Kosciusko way”, skiing in Europe, Japan and the US, more mountaineering, more climbing, more hiking ...

“Everything,” he said.

His daughters, 15 and 17, get in on the action, too.

“My eldest is more interested in hiking now,” he said.

“I took her over to New Zealand at the start of the year and we did the Milford Sound hike.”

The younger one is a keen rock climber – she takes great pleasure in arm wrestling all the “buff” boys at school and beating them.

Tim at work. 145268

27

Jason Bargwanna and his family own four Red Rooster stores across the south east.

Picture: ROB CAREW

Life in the fast food lane

By RUSSELL BENNETT AUSSIE motorsport champion Jason Bargwanna is used to life in the fast lane on the track, but he is now making a name for himself off it in the fast food business.

Warragul-based, Jason first dipped his toe in the water of Red Rooster ownership two years ago.

He and his wife now own four stores – in Hampton Park, Fountain Gate, Hastings and Pakenham West.

“After 20 years in motor racing I still do have a role but I wanted to build a business,” he told Grow.

“I worked at McDonald’s as a kid on fries, and was interested in business.

“Red Rooster was a brand that appealed to me – it’s Australian and it produces a product both my wife and I are happy to sell.”

Jason won the 2000 Bathhurst championship

28

Some weekends the guys hate you, but some weekends they love you... the Christmas card list tends to get shorter and shorter each year… alongside Garth Tander and is still involved in the sport in an official capacity.

“It’s an area with young, developing families with both parents working,” he said.

He said the opportunity to grow his business within the Red Rooster franchise network was a particularly attractive one for he and his family and they’re always looking for ways to continue that growth.

“It’s a really good customer base from which to grow the business.

“Both our kids are in the business as well,” he said. “It’s a real family business.”

“For us it’s a real privilege to be able to start some young people on a career. Some have gone from working on a register and making fries, to actually being managers within our business, so there are growth opportunities there.”

With a focus on the Casey Cardinia region, Jason says he couldn’t have a better customer base.

“We’ve got more than 100 staff and a lot of those are kids from the area with their first jobs.

The little Red Rooster delivery cars are a change of pace for former V8 driver Jason Bargwanna.

“We really love the business and the fact that we can offer customer service and interact with our customers, and that we’ve got a good crew that run our stores,” he added.

Jason still maintains an involvement in Australian motorsport, including at the top level as the V8 Supercars’ driving standards observer.

Between that and his Red Rooster business, he’s found a great mix.

“I still do a little bit of racing as well, but with 20-odd years at the top level of Australian motorsport if you shook me around and turned me upside down there’s a fair bit of information that’d fall out the top of the skull, so they’ve asked me to come along and over the past couple of years I’ve also played a role as the driving standards observer,” he said.

“For some people probably the best way to describe it is the head umpire or referee.

“Quite naturally you’re the bloke who has to make the tough decisions and the Christmas card list tends to get shorter and shorter each year.

“I still love the sport – I’ve grown up in the sport and committed a lot of years to it, and there’s a lot of respect up and down pit-lane for the role I do.

“Some weekends the guys hate you, but some weekends they love you. That’s just the way it goes.”

For Jason, there are definite similarities between life on the track, and in the stores.

“In motorsport you need to be organised and disciplined, and you need to stick to programs and you need to be on top of every little part of what you do to get the most out of your performance,” he said.

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“It’s no different in business – you need to be quite disciplined in how you go about it, you need to be organised and stick to plans and that’s how you execute your results.

“In terms of motor racing, you spend years building relationships and developing sponsors and working within the business you learn a lot about negotiations and so forth and all of that translates very quickly to our Red Rooster business.

“Everyone who owns a business knows how tough it is these days and we’re out to try to build our business and develop a future that our kids could grow up in.

“They both work in the stores now but, who knows, they might also become part of the ownership of the business over the years to come.

“If we can grow the business to more stores and offer a better service, then that’s our goal.”

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Jason said that after a long period away from the fast food industry, it all came flooding back on one of the first days he fronted up for work.

29

Median housing values

105,499

House Casey Cardinia region

$435,779

City of Casey

$481,986

Cardinia Shire

$389,572

Greater Melbourne

$582,067

residents leave the region to work every day Source: Remplan

Number of businesses in the Casey Cardinia region:

19,921 Source: Remplan, March 2016

Region

Unemployment rate

Casey Cardinia region

7.31%

Greater Melbourne

6.48%

Victoria

6.10%

Source: economy.id

Key regional economic drivers

Population Growth

76%

Unemployment rate

increase by 2036

Manufacturing Construction Retail Trade Transport, postal and warehousing

Source: Remplan, March 2016

Education and training Source: Remplan

Employment by industry sector High performing industries

INDUSTRY

JOBS

Retail Trade

9,798

Industry

Exports ($m)

Education and training

7,548

Manufacturing

$1,405.162 (46.1%)

Health care and social assistance

7,528

Construction

$311.231 (10.2%)

Construction

6,753

Wholesale Trade

$303.663 (10%)

Manufacturing

6,094

Source: Remplan

Accommodation and food services

4,368

Population

Wholesale trade

3,221

Transport, postal and warehousing

2,845

Professional, scientific and technical services

2,690

Public administration and safety

2,308

Agriculture, forestry and fishing

1,904

Administrative and support services

1,526

Arts and recreation services

1,139

Rental, hiring and real estate services

1,007

Financial and insurance services

912

Electricity, gas, water and waste services

642

Information, media and telecommunications

545

Mining

126

Source: Remplan | March 2016

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Region Casey Cardinia region Dandenong Frankston Knox Wyndham Whittlesea Hume City Council Source: Source: economy.id, March 2016

Calendar of Events

Effective record keeping for small business This short workshop will offer participants a sound understanding of basic financial systems and bookkeeping and a take home set of checklists, templates and tips ready to implement in their business.

Date: Wednesday 13 April 2016 Time: 6.30pm-8.30pm Venue: Meeting Room, Narre Warren Library, Overland Drive, Narre Warrren Cost: $20

R&D tax incentive information session The Victorian office of AusIndustry is hosting an information session for any company undertaking research and development.

Date: Thursday 14 April 2016 Time: 9.45am-12pm Venue: Casey Cardinia Business Hub, Level 1, Training Room, 64 Victor Crescent, Narre Warren Cost: Free

Coffee club The Business Coffee Club is an informal opportunity for local home-based businesses to meet other like-minded people and a special presentation from a guest speaker.

Date: Thursday 28 April 2016 Time: 10am-11.30am Cost: Free Venue: Casey Cardinia Business Hub, Level 1, 64 Victor Crescent, Narre Warren Date: Tuesday 24 May 2016 Time: 10am-11.30am Cost: Free Venue: Casey Cardinia Business Hub, Level 1, 64 Victor Crescent, Narre Warren Date: Tuesday 22 June 2016 Time: 10am-11.30am Cost: Free Venue: Balla Balla Community Centre, 65 Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Cranbourne East

Pricing formaximum profit Participants will discover the many elements that make up an effective pricing strategy and the secret to finding the balance between profits and increasing market share.

To help implement their pricing strategy participants will also have access to a free one-on-one mentoring session with an experienced small business mentor.

Date: Wednesday 18 May 2016 Time: 6.30pm-8.30pm Venue: Meeting Room, Narre Warren Library, Overland Drive, Narre Warren Cost: $20

Investing in a franchise In this workshop, a small-business franchise expert will step participants through the process to evaluate between buying a franchise versus starting a business and then how to choose the right franchise.

Date: Saturday 21 May 2016 Time: 10am-12pm Venue: Toomah Community Centre, 18 Golden Green Street, Pakehnam Cost: $20

Business mentoring sessions A personal meeting with an experienced and qualified business mentor can help take the steps needed to overcome an issue or information gap.

There are four 45 minute appointments available for free.

Date: Tuesday 24 May 2016 Time: 10.30am-2.45pm Venue: Toomah Community Centre, 15 Golden Green Street, Pakenham Date: Tuesday 28 June 2016 Time: 10.30am-2.45pm Venue: Casey Cardinia Business Hub, Level 1, 64 Victor Crescent, Narre Warren

Small Business Bus – Beaconsfield, Berwick and Endeavour Hills The Small Business Bus offers free mentoring throughout the day from 10am to 4pm with an experienced business professional who can help take a small business to the next level.

Beaconsfield Date: Monday 30 May 2016 Venue: Outside Bridgestone Select, 26 Old Princes Highway, Beaconsfield Berwick Date: Tuesday 31 May 2016 Venue: High Street car park, Berwick Endeavour Hills Date: Thursday 2 June 2016 Venue: Endeavour Hills Shopping Centre car park off Heatherton Road, Endeavour Hills Narre Warren Date: Thursday 16 June 2016 Venue: Webb Street car park, Narre Warren

Cracking the success code Renowned speaker Ron Malhorta will show participants how to achieve the success they picture for themselves by delving into the strategies of achievement and psychology of success adopted by some of the most successful people in the world.

Date: Tuesday 7 June 2016 Time: 6.30pm-8.30pm Venue: Casey Cardinia Business Hub, Level 1, Training Room, 64 Victor Crescent, Narre Warren

Your business is a digital world Participants will learn how to build their understanding of online advertising, search engines, websites and social media through practical exercises and real-life examples.

Date: Wednesday 15 June 2016 Time: 6pm-8pm Venue: Toomah Community Centre, 18 Golden Green Street, Pakehnam.

Cost: $20

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