Meet the heavyweights behind Tassie’s biggest business gambles
They’re the Tasmanians who swapped careers, took a risk and changed their business strategies or found unusual success. HOW THEY DID IT >>
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Tasmanian businesses are putting their best foot forward, be it in the tech space, food production or showcasing the best produce the Apple Isle has to offer.
Some have taken a risk and found success after a major career shift, others starting out on their kitchen bench before expanded to much larger operations.
The Mercury takes a look at the heavyweights behind Tassie’s biggest business gambles.
Nina McMahon | PopUp Wi-Fi
From offices in Hobart the team at PopUp Wi-Fi have made their name for themselves on the global tech scene.
It began as a way of providing reliable internet access in regional Tasmania and is now helping out with the streaming of major global events including a recent SpaceX launch at NASA.
Co-founder Nina McMahon said the team developed the prototype and found no-one else was doing the same thing anywhere in the world.
“We have created a technology that uses big antennas and really powerful routers and we can gather a signal from multiple cellular carriers at the same time.”
She said their technology acted as an insurance policy to ensure if there is an outage on one network there is continued internet or Wi-Fi access.
“In 2017 we set up shop in America and we created some products and they all contain the same technology, which we ship out to people and they can plug in and play.”
The company’s technology has assisted in the streaming of major events, the Jimmy Fallon Show and a royal tour by Prince Harry and Meghan Markel, as well to provide internet access at event such as major festivals where service can be patchy or remote locations.
“It’s a really big market and there’s a lot of respect for Tasmanian technology,” she said.
Tarrant Dereksen | New Norfolk Distillery
Tarrant Dereksen took a plunge not just moving down to Tasmania from Sydney, but also shifting from a career in the public service to starting his own distillery.
“Basically I was with my two brothers and we were having a couple of Tasmanian spirits down in Salamanca, there were whiskies and gins and we came to question why is there was no Tasmanian rum.”
Mr Dereksen said from there he went on a journey to try and make rum, completing a rum making course and travelling to meet with craft distillers and blenders.
Since setting up in New Norfolk they’ve established a range of products and have now purchased a new 250 litre still which will allow them to increase production by up to five times.
“We’ve grown during Covid, we’re putting more resources in the distillery.
“We’re confident in the product and despite the general economic downfall (from Covid) our sales have been pretty good,” he said.
Mr Dereksen said local markets have been the main way they have been selling their products.
They are now looking to open a cellar door, restaurant and event space, building on the currently monthly events held at their current premises.
Tara Howell | Blue Derby Pod Rides
Co-Founder of Blue Derby Rod Riders Tara Howell has some advice for those looking who working for the weekend to do what they love.
“Life is too short not to be working everyday in something you are passionate about,” she said.
Ms Howell and husband Steve launched Blue Derby Pod Rides in 2017, offering a luxury adventure mountain biking experiences.
“It really came from passion, Steve and I really had a love for Tasmania and the outdoors, and we would mainly explore that environment on the weekend,” she said.
“In the week we had office jobs, and spent some years in those jobs and wanted to work out how we could do our passion every day.”
Their guests are offered a three or four day luxury mountain bike experience, hitting the tracks with experienced leaders, accommodation in their unique pods and a food menu featuring locally sourced produce.
“We have not looked back. We often pinch ourselves that we are working in something we dreamt of,” she said.
Ms Howell said they captured a different market in the mountain bike scene in Australia as it expanded to families and older age groups.
“Motor biking was especially known at the time as a passion sport for MAMILS (middle aged men in Lycra) or yahoo kids and we thought the market was much bigger than that and other international markets like Canada really demonstrated that.”
She said while at times it was hard they were now at a point with their business that they dreamt of.
“We want to see the luxury adventure space expand further in Australia and we are helping others coming into the space.”
Nicola Mason | Smitten Merino
After moving from Western Australia to Tasmania Nicola Mason said she noticed not only the cold weather but also a gap in the market for Tasmanian merino wool clothing.
Mrs Mason is responsible for the designs at Smitten Merino, the business she started with her husband Carl 14 years ago.
“I had three children, another part time job and would sew when I got home on the dining room table, selling through parties to friends. I made it all myself for the first couple of years.”
Smitten Merino offer a range of activewear, sleepwear and are looking to further expand their offering of women’s clothing.
“We’re a sustainable merino clothing brand that aims to support that local economy, that wants to help support the growth of the Tasmania wool industry, keep manufacturing in Tasmania, and be as ethical and good for the environment as possible,” she said.
All the clothing is manufactured in Tasmania at a factory in Spreyton, with the wool sourced as much as from within Tasmania.
“We started as only an online business and a factory office, and people kept coming to us, seeking us out.”
“We did it a little backwards, we went from online to having bricks and mortar store.”
Sophie Milic | Coaldale Walnuts
Two generations now operating Coaldale Walnuts in Southern Tasmanian have undertaken career shifts to focus on the business.
Phil and Jane Dening planted an orchard of 1500 walnut trees in 1997 after relocating from the mainland.
Initially they were under a contract to supply to Webster Walnuts, but from there were able to start their own brand.
24 years on and their daughter Sophie Milic has returned permanently to the farm from Adelaide with her husband Brad and their children, changing careers from jobs in maritime safety and marketing.
Ms Milic said they were excited about the future of Coaldale Walnuts.
“We have started buying in nuts from another grower from Coal River and that means we have more than double the product we are selling and marketing under our Coaldale brand.”
Ms Milic said agritourism was something they were really seriously considering how to incorporate into their business.
“We already run a really popular open day has 500 people come through the orchard and get 1300kg of walnuts from orchard.”
She said they are also selling pickled walnuts and set to double pickle production from next year.
Sunny Beatson | Beadoughs Donuts
At the age of 16, Sunny Beatson started making doughnuts out of his mum’s kitchen and offering delivery to customers in the Burnie area during the Covid lockdown.
“IGA contacted us two weeks after and through word of mouth we constantly grew and it hasn’t stopped,” he said.
He’s since opened a shop in Burnie, has a food van that travels through out the North West and is looking to set up shop in Launceston.
Sunny said they moved into a commercial kitchen after outgrowing the kitchen at home.
“We weren’t planning on having a shop front, people just kept coming up to the door because they were smelling the doughnuts.”
They since moved relocated to another shop in central Burnie with a bigger kitchen and more foot traffic.
The business is making about 700 doughnuts a day and has seven employees.
Sunny, now 17, said the idea came about as a way to make some extra cash.
“If you told me this would happen I wouldn’t have believed it at all, we’re constantly improving every day and feel the hard work is paying off.”
Starting off with six flavours, they now have 18 different flavours on weekly rotation.
Will Horrin | Du Cane Brewery
While working as a guide taking tourists on the Overland Track Will Horrin decided there was an opportunity to showcase Tasmanian craft breweries to interstate visitors.
He said he began supplying the beer for the guests doing the hike with the walking company he was working for.
“I had done a bit of home brewing but basically I made a big batch, started a business, and the first batch I made got helicoptered up there.”
That was also the very start of Du Cane brewery.
The brewery now sells a Hut Pale Ale and a Peak Pilsner inspired by Mr Horrin’s time in the Tasmanian Wilderness.
“The Du Cane range is a feature of the Overland Track and all up I have spent up over a year on the Overland Track, I’ve done 80 or 90 trips over my lifetime.”
Now a full time brewer Mr Horrin is looking to open a brew pub in Launceston.
“I don’t really know what happened, it was really popular I guess,” Mr Horrin said.
“I’m been really passionate about craft beer, it just sort of happened and I kept going with it.”
“There’s lots of brew pubs in Hobart. We’ve seen there’s a bit of a gap in Launceston and it’s a waste to not try to showcase craft beer in the region.”
Du Cane brewery supplies their beers in bottle shops, bar and restaurants in Tasmania, and also now Melbourne.
James Phelps | Soyoyoy Foods
From a commercial kitchen in Kettering James Phelps is part of the growing Australia soy industry with his business Soyoyoy Foods.
Mr Phelps said it began as something he liked doing in his free time.
“I had been making soy milk and tofu at home for a number of years and some friends had a cafe in North Hobart and asked if I could start making tofu for them,” he said.
From there other cafes began stocking his tofu and he began selling at farm gate markets.
“Basically to where we are now is, it’s just grown from me doing single blocks of tofu to over 300kg a week by hand.”
“By mid November our tofu machine will arrive from Taiwan from silken tofu right through to extra firm in 40kg an hour.”
Mr Phelps said despite the long hours that go into production it was worth the change, after a shift from a career in the acoustics business.
“There’s soaking beans overnight, six hours a day on tofu and cleaning. They’re big days, but happy day.”
His partner Loz Abberton, who he calls the “cheese mistress,” was international award-winning lighting designer before becoming a part of Soyoyoy Foods has developed a plant based feta and soy based brie.
Mr Phelps said they were continuing to develop and improve the products for the national and international market.
Roxane and Alex Bandini-Maeder | GeoNeon
When Roxane and Alex Bandini-Maeder moved to Tasmania they found somewhere that reminded them of their hometown in Switzerland and they also decided to go into businesses together.
Their company GeoNeon combines tech and science to help develop solutions to anticipate the impact of extreme weather events.
Mrs Bandini-Maeder had been working with the Western Australian government looking at the risk of man made and natural hazards, and her husband had been a geologist consultant looking at geohazard for the development of large infrastructure projects in the energy sector.
She said they decided to join forces and GeoNeon was started.
“We started to talk about how we can enhance the use of geodata and earth observation to inform more accurately and more efficiently decision makers about mitigation measures for existing infrastructure and better plan the development of future infrastructure.”
Starting out with just the couple GeoNeon now has a team of six, with three geoscientists and three data scientists.
“We support mostly government and infrastructures companies to make informed decisions about climate change adaptation that can help reduce the number of people affected, direct economic loss and damage to critical infrastructure,” she said.
Mrs Bandini-Maeder said they had good relationships with their clients in Tasmania and were looking to build on from that and their collaborations with various universities.
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