Ahmed Fahour a perfect choice to run Amazon’s Australian operation

Outgoing Australia Post boss ticks all the boxes for a future and maiden boss of Amazon’s Australian arm.

Good mail? Outgoing Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour would be an obvious choice for Amazon’s Australian arm. Photo: Kym Smith

With a strong background in financial services, from his days as the boss of National Australia Bank’s domestic operations, and now seven years of service with Australia Post, Ahmed Fahour ticks all the boxes for a future and maiden boss of US retail giant Amazon’s Australian arm when it launches later this year.

Recently Mr Fahour even joked that when it came to picking his next employer after Australia Post he would choose a shareholder who “is just happy to pay what they said they were going to pay”.

That remark being a cheeky response to the outrage caused earlier this year when it was revealed Mr Fahour was Australia’s highest paid public servant getting more than $5.6 million to run Australia Post.

Amazon, with a market worth of more than half a trillion dollars would certainly have pockets deep enough to afford Mr Fahour.

The question remains, is he interested and has Seattle-based Amazon come knocking at the outgoing Australia Post boss’ door?

Amazon job parcelled up? Outgoing Australia Post boss Ahmed Fahour. Photo: Stuart McEvoy

Amazon remains an important customer of Australia Post, so Mr Fahour is certainly familiar with the company and its representatives, while these days the once loss making mail service generates more than two-thirds of its revenue from parcel delivery and e-commerce.

After years of speculation, Amazon in April confirmed the fears of the local $300 billion retail sector that it was now looking for a fulfilment centre as a first step to an arrival in Australia with a range of services.

It is now also looking for a CEO for its burgeoning Australian arm.

Mr Fahour, who will depart Australia Post next month, went some way to answer the question of him joining Amazon’s Australian operation in a Q&A session he gave last month at the University of New South Wales Business School, in which he revealed he had approaches from unnamed employers looking to hire him.

“I have been very blessed, very quickly I have had opportunities come my way much quicker than I anticipated and I have to say there were a couple of opportunities that were really large and really amazing, but I worked out very quickly through those what it is I don’t want to do and I think that is sometimes pretty important to work out what I want to do,” he said.

“And I think as time goes by the thing that energises me, that tickles my fancy will emerge that matches who I am and I have to say there have been a couple of tempting things but I decided I am just going to promise myself to take a bit of time to be patient, re-energise and get ready for whatever the next big adventure is.”

At that same UNSW event, Mr Fahour also spoke glowingly of Amazon and the benefits it will bring to the Australian market when it finally arrives with a launch of its marketplace product and which is expected to be followed up with a range of retail services.

“We have a great relationship (with Amazon),’’ Mr Fahour told the Business School crowd.

“The reality is we have studied Amazon very closely, we work with them very very well … let me say this, their initial entry into the Australian e-commerce market could grow the market significantly but there will be winners and losers in their growth.’’

Mr Fahour said businesses that were “dillusional about the impact of Amazon are going to get smashed.”

“And you should be, because you are not running your business well.’’

Mr Fahour also told the UNSW audience that he had received approaches from companies looking to employ him but he declined to name them. Presumably Amazon has sent out the feelers to Mr Fahour to gauge his interest.

Analysts and retail experts have estimated that Amazon could capture as much as $4 billion in sales within the first three years of its arrival here and as much as $10 billion in five years’ time as Australian shoppers are won over by its offer of cheap prices and often free delivery.