Tasmania’s business movers and shakers 5-1
WHO are Tasmania’s top business movers and shakers? Today we reveal the top five who, through hard work, innovation and vision, have had a profound influence on the prosperity of the state.
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WHO are Tasmania’s top business movers and shakers? Today we reveal the top five who, through hard work, innovation and vision, have a profound influence on the prosperity of the state.
5 Jane Bennett
One of Tasmanian agriculture’s most innovative thinkers who helped create the highly successful Ashgrove Cheese business and was a pioneer of on-farm value-adding. She is now chief executive officer of TasFoods Limited, which specialises in premium food production. The company’s operation includes Meander Valley Dairy, Nichols Poultry, Robur Dairy, Shima Wasabi and the recently purchased Pyengana Dairy. Ms Bennett is a director of Food Innovation Australia and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
4 Dale Elphinstone
Tasmania’s richest man according to BRW Rich List with wealth of $475 million. Operates Elphinstone Pty Ltd at Wynyard, formerly known as Haulmax, and is presently upgrading facilities with the help of Federal Government grants totalling $8 million.
The Liberal party financial life member was appointed by former prime minister Tony Abbott as co-chairman of the Federal Government’s influential Joint Commonwealth and Tasmanian Economic Council when it was established in 2013. He was reappointed by Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison to lead the council’s business group in 2017 although it has met just once since April 2016.
Elphinstone Pty Ltd won a recent tender to partner with Bustech Pty Ltd to manufacture 100 new Metro buses, creating 24 full-time jobs.
3 Ali Sultan
Born in Lebanon, Sultan arrived in Tasmania in 1972 and set up a takeaway shop in Claremont.
Slowly but surely he moved closer to the city, finally making a mark on Hobart with the building of the $3.5 million Savoy Hotel on the corner of Collins and Elizabeth streets in 2001.
Having bought the property for $800,000 from Westpac, he sold it three years ago for about $8 million. His property portfolio now includes the Commonwealth Bank building on Elizabeth St, the Mantra Hotel on Collins St and the Wellington Centre on Argyle St.
Sultan owns several car parks including at Market Place, Bathurst St and Montpelier Retreat.
Setbacks and legal battles have prevented him developing the Montpelier Retreat site, which is earning its keep as a car park until he can plot his next move.
2 Greg Farrell
No one can deny the profound and lasting impact the Federal Group, headed by managing director and CEO Greg Farrell, has had on Tasmania, from both a tourism and development perspective. Recently under scrutiny after a Parliamentary inquiry into Federal’s pokies monopoly, the success of Tasmania’s tourism industry would not be at the level it is today without the likes of Wrest Point, Saffire, The Henry Jones Art Hotel and, more recently, MACq 01.
1 David Walsh
One of Tasmania’s leading entrepreneurs, Walsh’s multimillion-dollar Mona museum project and its associated festivals have changed the way people talk about this state. Mona and the summer and winter festivals are major drivers of tourism business and jobs in Tasmania.
In July he announced a major expansion of his Mona complex including a $300 million 172-room hotel.
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