Angelique Boileau celebrates 30 years of business in SA
Prominent businesswoman, philanthropist and SA Australian of the Year nominee Angelique Boileau reflects on 30 years of doing business in SA.
SA Business
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Businesswoman, philanthropist and a nominee in this year’s SA Australian of the Year awards - Angelique Boileau has certainly left her mark during 30 years of doing business in South Australia.
And while succession plans are in place for the Boileau group of companies, the 72-year old has no plans to step away from the business she set up with husband Michael in 1989.
Since acquiring exclusive SME distribution rights for Rank Xerox printers and other machines in South Australia - at the height of a recession - the pair have grown and diversified their business, which now employs 30 people across sales, service and technology management.
Ms Boileau arrived in Adelaide from Hungary as a 14-year old, completed her schooling before departing to Melbourne to pursue a dream of becoming a flight attendant.
A career in sales was never the plan, but after three years with Ansett she started a family and later joined the sales team at Rank Xerox.
After a brief stint with Konica Minolta, Rank Xerox came knocking with an opportunity to return to Adelaide to oversee SME sales in South Australia.
The Boileaus secured exclusive distribution rights and together with Ms Boileau’s elderly parents and two teenage daughters, Danielle and Melanie, returned to Adelaide to start a new adventure.
The extended family moved into a small rental home and sold photocopiers and fax machines from a leased converted hanger on South Rd at Kurralta Park.
Speaking from the couple’s new luxury apartment in the CBD this week, Ms Boileau said the company had since evolved in line with rapid changes in technology.
“We moved to Adelaide to sell office photo copiers for the SME businesses,” she said.
“Then came a tidal wave of demand for fax machines and with the deregulation of telephony by Telstra came the digital telephone systems so we took on the distribution rights for NEC.
“Today, hardly anyone can remember fax machines and even the traditional telephony is being fast phased out, but that business stream has been replaced by information and communications technology (ICT) which was hardly even contemplated a decade ago.
“Printer networking and digitisation of the photocopier also gave us a massive lift in business as SMEs raced to keep pace with new technologies in the late 1990s with the introduction of multi-function devices.
“Our turnover nearly doubled from $3.8 million to $5.7 million as we sold new equipment and employed a team of specialists.”
Boileau now turns over more than $10 million a year and supports more than 1200 SME clients across the state from its purpose-built headquarters on the corner of Marion Rd and Sir Donald Bradman Dve.
Five years ago Boileau invested heavily in ICT expertise and data centre capability to assist its SME clients.
Last financial year, the ICT business - which also includes data storage and cyber security advice - grew by 28 per cent, and now accounts for more than 25 per cent of the company’s turnover.
Boileau remains Fuji Xerox’s longest-standing metropolitan dealership in Australia – and will remain so as part of Ms Boileau’s succession plan, which includes passing the baton to Danielle to manage the Fuji Xerox business.
That leaves Ms Boileau free to oversee continued growth of the ICT division, which she plans to do for some time yet.
“I keep on comparing to Murdoch - when he retires I'll retire, or at the age he retires I’ll retire,” she said.
In addition to running the business, the Boileaus are major contributors to charitable, sporting and other South Australian community organisations.
Ms Boileau is one of the longest-standing participants in Vinnie’s CEO Sleepout and she also supports homeless youth across the state through the Hutt Street Centre and Service to Youth Council.
The family is a strong financial supporter of the arts through its long-term sponsorship of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, and is also a long-time corporate sponsor of the Adelaide Crows.
“South Australia has been good to us and we enjoy giving back to the people and place we love,” Ms Boileau said.
The Boileaus are also long-time backers of the Liberal Party and Ms Boileau counts Premier Steven Marshall as a close friend who often reaches out for advice.
“I tell him that you have got to just keep listening,” she said.
“Keep on listening and doing what you believe is best because at the end of the day you’re never going to please everyone.
“Like this land tax - I’ve got properties but at the end of the day I pay whatever I have to pay - these big (property owners), and many of them are my good friends, I tell them you guys have had it good for too long, you have got to make your contribution.”
Earlier this week, Ms Boileau’s service to the state was recognised by being nominated for the 2020 SA Senior Australian of the Year award.