Queensland’s Top 20 Under 40 young entrepreneurs and business leaders
For its 5th annual Top 20 Under 40 list, QBM casts a spotlight on some of the state’s most inspiring young entrepreneurs and business leaders, including a Gold Coaster running a popular food business. SEE WHO MADE THE CUT IN PART 1.
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YOU don’t have to look far to find unheralded Queensland startups making it big on the world stage or local entrepreneurs changing the way business has been done.
For its 5th annual Top 20 under 40 list QBM casts a spotlight on some of the state’s most inspiring young entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Apply now for your chance to WIN the QBM Griffith MBA Scholarship
Queensland Chief Entrepreneur Leanne Kemp, a veteran of the industry, knows what it’s like to dream big. She has some tips for anyone who wants to be their own boss and says people should not be put off by gloomy statistics.
“Jumping into the entrepreneurial world can be a bit intimidating, especially if you fall for the myth that 90 per cent ofstartups fail,” she says.
“The good news is that startup failure rates aren’t nearly that high – especially if you use the right tactics to start offstrong.”
She lists the following tips:
1. Find your passion.
2. Know your market.
3. Get your finances in order.
4. Prepare to make sacrifices.
5. Find a mentor.
6. Tune up your business knowledge.
7. Be a planner.
“Starting your own business can be exciting and challenging,” she says. “While you’ll undoubtedly encounter many obstacles and setbacks on your path to success, following these tips will help you start strong on your entrepreneurial journey.”
Check out Part 1 of our two-part Top 20 Under 40 series.
KATE WILLIAMS, 36, NODO DONUTS
It’s hard to believe selling donuts at New Farm markets less than ten years ago could turn into a multimillion-dollar business gearing itself for nationwide expansion.
Kate Williams’ Nodo Donuts brand has become a foodie sensation offering an array of gluten-free products alongside her signature sweets.
Perfecting the gluten-free flour ratio and in 2016 opening her first store in Newstead, Nodo has cemented itself as a Brisbane institution with three stores and almost $5 million dollars in annual turnover.
ABBEY CAMERON, 32, NOURISH’D
From a commercial kitchen on the Gold Coast, Abbey Cameron plans to be the healthy meal delivery leader of Australia.
Starting with $70,000 in savings in 2014 Cameron and husband David Crompton, 34, started making meals for people like themselves.
Nourish’d currently cooks, ships and delivers 3500 meals a week along the eastern states, expanding to South Australia inrecent weeks and hopes to be the first fully prepared, door-to-door meal delivery service in Tasmania in September.
FRANK LI, 33, RESTAURANT AND PROPERTY INVESTOR
Frank Li is not one to order from a menu to feed his own ego.
“I’m just the background guy,” he says, modestly playing down his role in a side hustle with his mates that has put them atthe frontline of south-east Queensland’s restaurant revolution.
Unquestionably, however, it is Li’s business acumen that is a key ingredient in their successful vanguard of dining and drinking venues, which includes Brisbane’s The Flying Cock, Longtime, Honto, Little Valley and the Gold Coast’s Rick Shores.
Not a bad effort for what he calls his “Plan B”.
ALEXANDER GRANSBURY, 37, DREAMFARM
Business might be booming for Alexander Gransbury, but the self-described kitchen tool inventor is still hungry.
“I think we’re way behind where we should be,” Gransbury says. “I’m not happy with it.”
This is despite Dreamfarm achieving $7 million turnover with growth of 35 per cent year-on-year, including doubling its turnover in its lucrative US market.
Founded in 2003, Dreamfarm has become one of the global leaders in creative kitchen products, with 16 staff across Australia and the US, and products shipped to 30 countries.
His products are found in major department stores such as Bloomingdales in the US, John Lewis in the UK and Myer in Australia.
JAMES AND ERICA BARTLE, BOTH 38, OUTLAND DENIM
Their brand was firmly cemented in the Australian fashion landscape when Meghan Markle wore a pair of the company’s jeans during a visit to Australia in 2018, but Outland Denim founders James and Erica Bartle were never in it for the fame and fortune.
It was Liam Neeson’s film Taken that changed the trajectory of this couple’s lives, prompting them to help Cambodian women and their families out of poverty.
Following the movie, the pair were confronted by the idea of the human trade – something James witnessed first-hand whileon a trip to South-East Asia in 2010. The experience formed the building blocks necessary to create Outland Denim.
The company employs and trains women to make what James Bartle says is one of the hardest pieces of clothing to master: a pair of denim jeans.
Although Markle wasn’t a planned partnership or one the Bartles expected, her wardrobe choice made a big impact on the company, and now, the Bartles often refer to the “before Meghan” and “after Meghan” era for their business.
CHRIS BUTTERS, 36, CBRE BRISBANE
Over a 13-year career in the property industry Chris Butters has negotiated leasing deals with some of the biggest names in Australian business.
The Brisbane Grammar old boy, who has been CBRE’s Queensland state director of Advisory & Transaction Services – Office Leasing for almost three years, now also heads up the 250-strong Brisbane office.
Now an emerging world city Butters says with the multi-billion dollar infrastructure rollout Brisbane is well and truly onthe map for national and global businesses.
NYAH TEIOTU, 30, BHP
Nyah Teiotu has made a career out of breaking new ground.
That is not just because her day job involves drilling holes and packing them with explosives.
Last year Teiotu became the first indigenous woman ever to work as an engineer at mining giant BHP.
In May, she was recognised by the Queensland Resources Council as 2019’s most exceptional person at the QRC Indigenous Awards.
The 30-year-old drill and blast engineer at BHP’s Blackwater coal mine, an hour east of Emerald, says she has the coolest job in mining but in truth it’s probably her second passion.
ROB GRAY, 30, & ANDREW GRAY, 33, GRAYA CONSTRUCTION
They are the go-to builders among Brisbane’s A-list. In just 12 months, the young brothers behind the burgeoning brand thatis Graya TM have earned a reputation for being the best in the business when it comes to turning inner-city hovels into hot property.
Football players, models and rappers are among their high-profile clients, but Rob Gray, 30, and his sibling Andrew, 33, remain as down-to-earth as ever.
The expert home flippers burst on to the startup scene five years ago with just $50,000 in capital, and have since traded more than $60 million worth of property and completed some 60 projects.
FRASER KILLEN, 18, PANEL TOOLS ONLINE
Juggling a double degree at university while managing an eCommerce start-up has not tempered one Brisbane teen’s entrepreneurial spirit.
Fraser Killen co-founded Panel Tools Online with his mentor Craig Honeyman in July 2018, selling tools with applications incarpentry and kitchen fitting.
The Nundah teen says his company, which has a turnover in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, has disrupted the panel tools market dominated by paper catalogues.
LAURIE MALONE, 34, VALD PERFORMANCE
Brisbane’s VALD Performance is part of a wave of Queensland sport-based startups making it big on the international field.
Started in 2014, VALD has grown from seven employees at the start of last year to just over 50 now and is about to launch a new tech product it hopes will revolutionise physiotherapy globally.
Queensland Business Monthly and Griffith Business School are looking for responsible leaders of the future to apply for an MBA Scholarship.
Total prize package is valued up to $130,000. Applications close September 4.
Click here to apply now for your chance to WIN the QBM Griffith MBA Scholarship.
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