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BIOSOLAR’s Leigh Storr, Vita Group’s Maxine Horne, General Trade Industries’ Geoff Pike and Temando’s Carl Hartmann have been acclaimed as Queensland’s leading entrepreneurs of 2014 by EY.

The four outstanding Queensland entrepreneurs took out top honours in the 2014 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Northern Region awards, presented in Brisbane on July 31. 

Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year was BioSolar Australia managing director Leigh Storr , the industry category went to Vita Group CEO Maxine Horne, the services sector was won by General Trade Industries founder Geoff Pike, and the technology entrepreneur of the year was Carl Hartmann, founder of Temando Pty Ltd.

Also recognised in the non-competitive regional award categories were ERM Power Ltd CEO Philip St Bakerin the listed companies sector, social entrepreneur was Jean Madden of Street Swags and the Champion of Entrepreneurship went to Tim Crommelin, the executive chairman of business advisory group and brokers Morgans.

EY’s Northern Region winners, Social entrepreneur and Listed award recipient will go on to represent the state at the national awards in November, where they will compete for the title of 2014 Australian EY Entrepreneur Of The Year.

EY’s Brisbane managing partner, Rick Dennis congratulated the winners saying they represented the high quality and diversity of the state’s entrepreneurial talent.

“Successful entrepreneurs have an extraordinary passion, self-belief and drive that keeps them going when others might give up,” Mr Dennis said.

“Because of this, they are able to make a significant contribution to Australia’s economy and to the community by creating jobs, driving productivity, fuelling growth and inspiring others to act on business opportunities.

“Each of our 2014 Northern Region awards winners has demonstrated outstanding innovation, determination and entrepreneurial spirit.

“On behalf of EY, I congratulate them on their achievements and wish them the best of luck as they go on to represent Queensland at the national awards in November,” Mr Dennis said.

Mark Toon, Commonwealth Bank  general manager for Corporate Financial Services in Queensland, Mark Toon said the Northern Region award winners were an inspiration to other start-up businesses.

“Commonwealth Bank has been the principal sponsor of the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards for three years now and we are continually impressed by the achievements of the Northern Region award winners,” Mr Toon said.

“From industry to technology, these entrepreneurs have contributed to the economic growth and development of their business field.

“Each of the winners has demonstrated the drive, positive attitude and vision the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards aim to celebrate. These leaders are a noteworthy example to others looking to build their business in Queensland.” 

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the world’s most prestigious business awards and is the only truly global program of its kind, with entrepreneurs participating in 145 cities in more than 60 countries. Over 1,200 outstanding entrepreneurs have been recognised through the Entrepreneur Of The Year program in Australia since 2001.

The overall 2014 Australian winner will be named at a ceremony in Melbourne on November 20. The national winner will then go on to represent the country and compete in the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year awards in Monte Carlo next June, following in the footsteps of last year’s Australian winner Andrew Bassat of SEEK.

www.ey.com/au/eoy.

2014 EY Entrepreneur Of  The Year category winners, Northern Region

Category: Emerging

Leigh Storr – BioSolar Australia

Leigh Storr is the founder and managing director of BioSolar, a Queensland based company providing high quality solar panel systems to homeowners and businesses. In 2010, Leigh established BioSolar with a team of three staff and today it boasts a cutting-edge head office, 250 employees and an exciting workplace culture. Mr Storr is passionate about saving the environment and supporting his employees. He created BioSolar Wellness, a health and wellness program for his staff and the BioSolar Community Program to help protect Ecuadorian rainforests and provide micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.

What the judges said: Leigh Storr is an exciting young Queensland leader who exudes a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Through determined execution of a great business model, Mr Storr has built his business, BioSolar, into a sustainable energy company with impressive revenue growth. Mr Storr’s personal integrity also shows through in his demonstrated commitment to the environment and to the community. 

Category: Industry

Maxine Horne – Vita Group

Maxine Horne is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Vita Group (VTG:AX). Vita Group is a multi-branded company that sells Telstra products and services through its national footprint of Telstra Stores and Fone Zone stores; creates and provides information and communication technology through Camelon ICT Solutions and Vita Enterprise Solutions; Apple computing products through Next Byte; and an award-winning accessories brand Sprout. Ms Horne has followed her vision of growing her people and delivering exceptional customer experiences from day one, allowing Vita Group to grow profits year on year.

What the judges said: Maxine Horne has demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurial flair in her leadership of Vita Group. An early mover who capitalised on a gap in the market, Ms Horne built her business by providing Australian consumers with convenient access to telecommunications products. Vita Group’s status as a leading Australian retailer is largely due to Maxine Horne’s ‘people first’ focus and the strategic partnerships she has built with Australian telecommunications companies.

Category: Services

Geoff Pike – General Trade Industries

As an apprentice plumber for his local council in rural Queensland, Geoff Pike’s work area was larger than Tasmania covering three separate isolated towns. With no other tradesman to service the region and with a hunger for business, Mr Pike decided to strike out on his own. In 2001 Mr Pike began a sole trader business and in 2003 he founded General Trade Industries, initially as a subcontracting business for project work. Today, General Trade Industries is a leading remote areas construction specialist providing complete onsite installation and maintenance of oil, gas and energy utility equipment and operation support services for operations in Australia. The business employs over 250 people and operates from three major support bases in Queensland.

What the judges said: Geoff Pike is a grass roots entrepreneur, successfully turning a proposal rejected by his employer into his own thriving business. General Trade Industries has achieved significant revenue by providing remote area services to the oil and gas industries. Mr Pike’s commitment to his local community, Thargomindah, is a reflection of his strong values and determination to help others as his business continues to grow.

Category: Technology

Carl Hartmann – Temando Pty Ltd

Carl Hartmann began a successful career in media, before co-founding, building and launching Temando Pty Ltd (Temando) in 2009. Temando provides shipping software solutions for both the e-commerce and logistics industries. Temando can integrate with all major e-commerce platforms, which Mr Hartmann said increases shipping efficiencies and online conversion rates to generate sales for merchants. Today, Temando has 40,000 registered users, including many of the world’s largest retailers, in an impressive global client portfolio.

What the judges said: Carl Hartmann has skilfully executed on his entrepreneurial vision to turn Temando into a global player providing shipping solutions to the e-commerce industry. Mr Hartmann’s innovative and disruptive business model has had a truly global impact for online retailers and freight companies.  Already achieving significant market share, Temando has the potential to become one of the world’s leading e-commerce platforms.

2014 EY Entrepreneur Of The Year non-competitive award recipients, Northern Region:

Category: Listed award

Philip St Baker – ERM Power Limited

Philip St Baker is CEO of ERM Power Limited, an amalgamation of business started by his father that was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in 2010. ERM Power is a diversified energy company which sells energy to business customers across Australia. It operates electricity sales, generation, and gas exploration businesses. Since Mr St Baker became managing director in 2006, the company has transformed from a successful and emerging private power development company with annual turnover under $10 million, into one of Australia’s fastest growing diversified energy companies listed on the ASX with annual turnover in excess of $1 billion.

Category: Social entrepreneur

Jean Madden – Street Swags

Jean Madden launched Street Swags Ltd in 2005 to provide practical support for people experiencing homelessness. Ms Madden developed Street Swags to reduce the dangers and negative health effects of sleeping outdoors. Working to break this cycle of homelessness and incarceration she has developed a program to chip away at the hurt that causes and perpetuates more abuse. This developing work has lowered crime, violence and addiction. Street Swags have been distributed to over 30,000 homeless people and Jean Madden has established two revenue generating subsidiaries – Walkabout Beds Pty Ltd and The Community Healing Project – which further develop the charity’s objectives.

Category: Champion of Entrepreneurship

Tim Crommelin – Morgans

The Champion of Entrepreneurship award is a lifetime achievement award in which EY recognises individuals who have a long-term record of outstanding entrepreneurial achievement; have driven the growth of an Australian company, or companies, over a sustained period of time; and have made a significant contribution to their community.

Tim Crommelin has more than 40 years experience in the stockbroking industry as well as having a keen interest in golf, football, and cricket. Mr Crommelin is the executive chairman of Morgans. He was appointed general manager of the Girdis Group of Companies (Property Development and Investment) in 1974 before joining Morgans in 1986. He is chairman of the Advisory Board of the Australian National University Investment Committee, director of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, a member of the senate of The University of Queensland, a chairman of AP Eagers Limited, a director of Senex Energy Limited and a director of Abney Limited. Mr Crommelin is a Fellow of the Securities Institute of Australia (FSIA), and a trustee of the Queensland division of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia. Mr Crommelin holds a Bachelor of Commerce from The University of Queensland, and has completed the Advanced Management Program at the University of Hawaii.

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GREG CREED, chief executive officer of Taco Bell, the leading Mexican-inspired quick service restaurant brand in the United States, was recently named the 2014 QUT Outstanding Alumnus of the Year.

Taco Bell and its more than 350 franchise organisations have nearly 6,000 restaurants across the US, serving more than 36 million customers every week. 

Mr Creed will become chief executive officer of Taco Bell’s owning company, Yum! Brands, on January 1, 2015. 

Yum! Brands, based in Louisville, Kentucky, is one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with more than 40,000 Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in over 125 countries and territories and more than US$13.8 billion in revenue in 2013.

Mr Creed, who completed a Bachelor of Business with a major in marketing from QUT in 1977, was honoured with the prestigious award at the annual Outstanding Alumni Awards at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

It came after he was named the QUT Business School Outstanding Alumnus for 2014.

“I’m very humbled and honoured to be named the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year,” Mr Creed, one of the most powerful men in fast food, said.

“I haven’t been back to QUT for 37 years but I still have really fond memories of being here.”
With more than 30 years’ experience in marketing and operations with leading packaged goods and restaurant brands, Mr Creed has forged a reputation as a marketing guru after masterminding a series of impressive campaigns.

But as a high school student at MacGregor State High School, in Brisbane’s south, he had no idea which career path he wanted to follow.

“I remember being in Year 10 and not knowing what to do and I picked the science subjects which was the most stupid decision I’ve ever made because I’m no good at science,” Mr Creed said.
“So when I first applied to QUT I didn’t get in the first round and was really glad I still got a place. Then all of a sudden I started doing subjects that I really loved and it was the classic ‘aha’ where I realised if you love what you do, you tend to do really well at it.

“I just found I loved business and I loved marketing. People say university’s a spring board, which it is, but this was where I found my life’s passion. It was where I finally worked out what I loved and what I wanted to do as a career.”

After graduating, Mr Creed joined consumer goods multinational Unilever, where he would spend the next 16 years, including stints working in London, Sydney and New York.

He was lured back to Australia to the position of chief marketing officer of KFC and Pizza Hut for Australia and New Zealand in 1994, before returning to the US as chief marketing officer for Taco Bell in 2001.
“I’ve now had 20 years in the restaurant business and I love it,” Mr Creed said.

“It’s a unique sector because when I was working for Unilever I was doing all the marketing but Woolies and Coles were doing all the retailing.

“But in this business, we have to create the products and then retail them. It has its own unique challenges and it’s a very fast-paced and competitive environment, so 20 years have flown by with Yum and I don’t know where they’ve gone.”

Mr Creed’s leadership of Taco Bell has seen him spearhead numerous successful initiatives, including the development of the ‘Doritos Locos Taco’ product, which sold more than 800 million in two years and is the most-successful product launch in Taco Bell’s 50-year history.

But he said the achievements he was most proud of were mentoring young employees and the company’s socially responsible work.

“I love launching successful products but what I love more is helping young people grow and develop and mentoring them and showing them they can do things they don’t think they can do,” Mr Creed said.

Both Taco Bell and Yum were responsible for some “real social good”, Mr Creed said, employing hundreds of thousands of people across the globe and engaging in initiatives including supporting at-risk teens through high school.

Yum also has an involvement with the United Nations World Food Program, which has seen it provide more than $185 million since 2007, resulting in 740 million life-saving meals to hungry families.

Mr Creed, 57, said his advice to current graduates would be to “stay true to yourself”.

“When I turned 50 someone said ‘what do you want your legacy to be?’,” Mr Creed said.

“I thought that was a great question but it’s already more than half defined so I always say to young people, plan what legacy you want to leave and work towards it rather than wake up at 50 and realise you already have a legacy.

“Know what you’re good at but don’t try and hide what you’re not good at, because the only way you can be genuine is when you are who you are.”

Mr Creed, who once quipped he was the “Australian guy selling Mexican food to Americans,” has spent 21 of his 37 years working overseas but remains a passionate Australian with a strong affinity for the state he still calls home.

“My son was born in Sydney so when State of Origin comes round we still have a bet and I still go for the Maroons very much,” Mr Creed, who has retained his Australian accent, said.

“I’m a classic Brissie boy and a very proud Queenslander and Australian.”

Mr Creed lives in California with his wife of 33 years, Carolyn.
 
The 2014 QUT Outstanding Alumni of the Year winners are:
 
Matt Baxby, Faculty of Law
 
Wayne Blair, Creative Industries, Special Excellence Award for Contributions to the Creative Arts
 
Russell Board, Science and Engineering Faculty
 
Raymond Chan, Outstanding Young Alumnus of the Year
 
Greg Creed, Business School, Outstanding Alumnus of the Year
 
Anna Morse, Special Excellence Award for Outstanding Leadership in Health
 
Tracey Vieira, Faculty of Education
 
Terry White AO, Faculty of Health, Special Excellence Award for Lifetime Achievement

www.qut.edu.au

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