Haese takes helm at Business SA and charts course for growth
Lord Mayor turned Business SA chief Martin Haese says he’ll be using the success of the lobby group’s members as the benchmark for his success in his new role.
SA Business
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The fortunes of his members will be the benchmark for the performance of the new chief executive of the state’s peak employer group, Business SA.
“I want to inject energy and enthusiasm into doing business in South Australia,” said Martin Haese, who started in his new role this week.
“The measure of the work I do here will be growth, I don’t shy away from that.
“If our members are growing as a consequence of the work we’re doing, we at Business SA will grow. And if our members are growing, the state is growing.”
Mr Haese, Lord Mayor of Adelaide from 2014 to 2018, brings his own business experience and a mixture of professional and public-life skills to the job.
He intends standing in the spotlight to advocate on big issues such as energy, red tape and tax reform.
On industrial relations, he’s willing to go into combat for employers if necessary but sees it as a broad field ripe for collaboration rather than conflict.
“It’s about productivity,” he said.
“Wages and conditions are important, of course they are.
“But having appropriately skilled staff, having loyal staff, having staff who contribute to the innovation, growth and prosperity of the business is, surely, the ultimate objective.”
Mr Haese next step is to build relationships with the thousands of Business SA members in the city and regions — and then external organisations.
The regions are key to exports and SA achieving the Government’s target of 3 per cent annual economic growth.
“It will be critical for Business SA to be very active in the regions,” he said.
“That’s not just agriculture — it’s advanced manufacturing, resources, energy.”
Business SA provides practical assistance through an Export Ready program, document stamping and business migration and holds annual SA Export Awards.
“We’re hoping to accelerate our programs and help take this state’s offerings to a wider audience,” Mr Haese said.
An early move has been to recruit chief executive of Australian Motors Group and former chief financial officer at AP Eager, Shelley Blackwell, to lead finance and operations.
Mr Haese said it was crucial to have a proper grip on the financial numbers, a lesson he had learnt in building up his fashion business Youthworks.
He would also apply retail’s mantra of success through customer service into helping Business SA members.
“The largest part of my career has been in the retail industry,” he said.
“I started very small and built up to a $25 million business with 18 retail stores.”
At Youthworks, he learnt how to run manufacturing, wholesale, distribution, warehousing, logistics and managing partnerships.
From Youthworks, he founded Retail IQ International — providing professional services of market research, strategic planning and training and revitalising Rundle Mall. Adding to his skills was his time as lord mayor. Among many initiatives, he is proud of the Ten Gigabit Adelaide project.
“Digital infrastructure in a CBD environment has an enormous impact on its competitiveness,” he said.
It helped existing businesses and attracted new firms such as Technicolor, which has established visual-effects studio Mill Film and will create 500 jobs over five years.
“Technicolor came to Adelaide because it has the fastest broadband network in Australia,” Mr Haese said.
He is optimistic SA’s business conditions are strong and opportunities abound across traditional industries and defence, space, technology, education and tourism.
He is also passionate about sustainable development from both environmental and economic perspectives and remains chair of the Premier’s Climate Change Council.
His partner, Genevieve Theseira-Haese, will continue in leadership roles at many of the community organisations she devoted time to as lady mayoress.
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