The whole thing sounds like madness, and looks like it too when you see the man in charge. Chances are his long white hair will be hanging wildly, he’ll be slouched and dragging his feet, and his oversized sloppy joe will barely disguise tracksuit pants that have seen much better days.

This is David Dicker, a Sydney-born autodidact who is to be underestimated at your peril. In 1978, the former roofing installer and refrigeration mechanic founded what would become Dicker Data, a distributor of computer hardware.