Dwayne MartensCompany: Amazonia
Age: 26
In the rapid-fire world of superfoods, new brands seem to come and go rapidly, but Dwayne Martens is in it for the long haul. In three years he has grown his Acai berry importation business Amazonia into a multimillion dollar concern, and today is the only Fair Trade certified importer of the superfood from the Amazon.
Martens started the business in a friend’s kitchen in Fremantle, WA, after meeting a small Brazilian distributor of Açaí. He designed a logo and set up a portable juice bar to sell the products in Perth markets, and has since grown the business to now be packaging and selling Acai berry products in five countries, with plans to add more this year.
Marten’s business is also now supporting 2,000 acres of preserved Acai rainforest and 4,000 families that supply him under the Fair Trade initiative, and he intends to double those numbers this year.
Dan MurrayCompany: Sly Underwear
Age: 20
Twenty-year-old Dan Murray is making a lot of money out of getting people into his underwear.
Since its foundation in 2010 Murray’s company Sly Underwear is now sold in more than 180 stores in Australia, including City Beach and Glue, and has just signed with distributors in New Zealand and North America.
As a teenager, Murray spotted a gap in the underwear market between high price designer garments and corporate mass produced garments. He launched Sly Underwear out of the back of a van, but soon succeeded in wooing prominent retailers.
He has built something of a cult following with minimal marketing spend and through an endorsement deal with Australia’s Got Talent winners, Justice Crew, while Murray himself was named as one of the CLEO top 50 bachelors for 2011.
Murray also donated $37,000 in underwear to victims of the 2011 Queensland flood disaster.
Sam PrinceCompany: Zambrero
Age: 28
Life can throw up interesting choices. For Sam Prince, it was the choice between becoming a doctor or a Mexican food franchisor. But at the age of 23, having opened one store and sold the franchise for a second, Mexican food won out, although he still went on to graduate as a doctor.
In 2009 Prince appointed his first chief executive officer, then-23-year-old Stuart Cooke. The two met sitting on a bus on the way to the Taj Mahal, and were brought together by their interest in philanthropic work.
Since then they have taken the business from two stores and $1 million in revenue to 12 stores, 175 staff, and more than $10 million in revenue, with a revenue target of $25 million for the end of 2011.
Prince still keeps a watchful eye over the taste and the look, which allows him to put time into other start-ups and social and charitable businesses, including a noble crusade to eliminate one disease at a time.
Dean RamlerCompany: Milan Direct
Age: 29
Dean Ramler grew up in a family of furniture entrepreneurs, so when he saw the chance to launch his own entrepreneurial venture he jumped at it. The idea for Milan Direct came about over a few beers with high school chum and eCommerce doyen Ruslan Kogan, who had set up his online electronics and appliance retail business a year earlier.
Kogan combined his love for technology and the internet with Ramler’s passion for furniture and background in marketing to create an online business that imports designer furniture at heavily reduced prices.
It turned over $5.8 million last year and is on track to hit around $7 million in revenue for 2011. The two are joint owners of the business today and split its management between them.
Milan Direct opened a site in the UK 18 months back which has already passed $1 million in revenue, and Ramler is now researching expansion both into Europe and North America.
Larissa RobertsonCompany: SCO Recruitment
Age: 30
Larissa Robertson explains her remarkable bid to rescue a non-for-profit from liquidation in a very simple way.
“The figures looked really good and I’ve always been a very stubborn person.”
Robertson was working as financial controller for recruitment, landscape, property maintenance and training group SES when she put a proposal to the board to split the bust company in two.
When her idea was rejected, Robertson pressed ahead anyway, nabbing staff and clients of the recruitment division, buying SES’s physical assets, and starting SCO Recruitment, as well as a not-for-profit property management business.
SCO Recruitment is now bringing in more than $8 million in revenue, and was awarded second place in the StartUpSmart Awards this year. Her advice is have faith in your staff and deal with your mistakes in a smart manner.
Smart Company is the leading online publication in Australia for free news, information and resources catering to Australia’s entrepreneurs, small and medium business owners and business managers.
