Former Westpac exec joins start-up

Bob McKinnon takes new role as Singapore-based Sprooki chairman.

Clare Mula executive director Sprooki. Sprooki is a local marketing system is designed to help malls and retailers engage shoppers via a mobile phone application.

Former Westpac and Commonwealth Bank CIO Bob McKinnon has become chairman of shopper engagement start-up Sprooki as it readies itself for an ASX listing.

Mr Kinnon, who has had more than 40 years of experience in business and technology including stints as CFO of MLC and Lend Lease, said Sprooki’s innovative platform instantly piqued his interest.

“I’m excited to join the board at a time when the company is well positioned for aggressive future growth,” Mr McKinnon said.

Sprooki was founded in Singapore in 2011 by Australians Claire Mula and Michael Gethen, and is already used across several major shopping centres and by thousands of retailers in South East Asia.

It offers a location-based mobile engagement platform for malls and retailers, with Ms Mula telling The Australian earlier this year her firm was well positioned to capitalise on the huge impact of mobility on commerce.

“All the retailers I speak to in Australia say that up to 50 per cent of their online traffic is coming from mobile devices,” she said.

“The difference between ordering a product on the desktop and doing it on a mobile device when you are actually in or near a store means that the way a retailer speaks to you as a customer, whether you are in the store or not, should be completely different.”

Mr McKinnon will join the board along with Jack Hanrahan who just completed an eight-year role as General Manager of Retailer Relations at Scentre Group Limited, an ASX-listed company with a portfolio of more than 40 retail shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand.

Sprooki now plans on launching its first deployment in Australia at Sydney’s Manly Wharf precinct, as well as an ASX listing in the “near future.”