IT business owner Jacob Ohlson may have started his working life with a job at Hungry Jacks, but his passion for technology has fuelled the remarkable growth of his internet technology company.

Now with 50 staff across four cities, Jacob drives the ambitious goal of international expansion, and it all stems from the love he developed for computer technology after receiving a Commodore 64 computer on his tenth birthday. It was a life compass as well as a motherboard. His inquisitive mind and the machine’s hard drive combined to teach him the value of pure fun with this new technology, and he learned to reformat the computer setup sequence after deleting it all, many times over!

Curiosity, and a developing penchant for all things technological, steered Jacob into an undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Monash University. In his first year he worked part-time for computer hardware manufacturer and wholesaler Alloy Computer Products (ACP), refining his knowledge about computing and networks. He began to notice that Alloy’s new products for business were selling, but computer support and product training were conspicuously lacking in the market. 

He stepped in; confident he had the capabilities to fill the gap he’d identified, and began a hobby business out of his parents’ garage.

With just one, then two customers – both still with him today – he steadily grew the business from part-time hobby into an enterprise which has just received internationally-recognised certification to elevate his professional standing in the industry globally, The business has expanded interstate and into New Zealand.

Jacob makes sure he tends to his staff to keep them on the pulse and happily engaged in the business. He looks after his customers in the same manner. His mantra is “I can only sell what I truly believe will work; products and services which are robust, and reliable, and will meet the customers’ expectations for their business requirements. Without that, I don’t want to sell.”

Read Jacob's full story at: http://www.unsungbusinessheroes.com.au/jacob-ohlson-2/

Jacob Ohlson - Power-Net IT Solutions - Humble Beginnings

Being suddenly retrenched from the family business was a slap in the face, waking Craig Fallshaw up abruptly. As a third-generation producer of pharmaceutical medicines, he reluctantly swallowed that bitter pill, going on to fortify his resolve, and forge his own way forward in this fiercely competitive sector.

Craig’s grandfather was one of the first suppliers to the Australian vitamin giant, Blackmores. But that dependence was the company’s Achilles heel. Losing that account meant overnight disaster for the small business on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Recipes and nutrition are a common factor in Craig’s career, and his life after school was initially as a chef.

There’s a theory that the best teachers are those who have spent time in the real world before going back into the classroom. Instead of going straight from school to university and then back to school as a teacher, the thinking is that they are better equipped if they’ve had some life experience outside the classroom. 

Craig Fallshaw never wanted to be a teacher, but his decision to break away from the family business and ‘live life’ has been crucial to the success of his company, Complementary Medicines Group (CMG).

For Craig's full story go to www.UnsungBusinessHeroes.com.au/craig-fallshaw

Craig Fallshaw - CEO Complementary Medicines Group

Paris-born Corinne Bot came to Australia over twenty-five years ago with her partner, but not much else. She had no plans, and no preconceived ideas about her future, but through her personal challenges she has created a successful global business, all started as a brand new mother working from her kitchen table.

Corinne’s success is a story of open-mindedness, and an open-armed embracement of a brand new country and culture.

Corinne is a Polyglotter, in fact she’s the Chief Polyglotter and now leads a worldwide team of over ninety Polyglotters working directly for her.

“It wasn’t a planned thing, to call ourselves Polyglotters,” Corinne notes, “it just happened.”

Like most entrepreneurs, Corinne was looking for a company name which would stand out from the crowd, but would still be relevant to what she does. In this case, “Polyglot just seemed to fit.”

The dictionary defines polyglot when used as an adjective as knowing or using several languages, for example, ‘a polyglot career woman’. As a noun, polyglot means a person who knows and is able to use several languages.

While ‘Polyglotter’ doesn’t appear in the dictionary, it’s become a colloquial description of those who speak several languages - make sense?  It’s almost as if the word was invented just for Corinne, because it describes perfectly what she does.

As Corinne explains, “It’s part of our DNA. All together, the ninety Polyglotters in the company speak just short of forty languages.

For Corinne's full story go to: www.UnsungBusinessHeroes.com.au/corinne-bot

Corinne Bot - CEO & Founder Polyglot Group

The fear and anger evident in a young Simon Bedard were formative factors that lead him many years later to create an advisory business offering sanctuary, structure and safety for business owners: basic human needs that he lacked as a child.

Simon thanks his mentor for turning his life around: from potential ruin to personal triumph over fear, and to now being in a position to give back to a special part of our community.

One of the great sporting challenges of modern and ancient times is the gruelling forty-two kilometre marathon event.

Simon believes running a business is analogous to running a marathon. “The last hundred metres of a marathon should be exciting and a joy. You should be able to walk off the track with your head held high, and be proud of your achievements. It should be the same when you exit your business.

“Most will only ever exit a business once, whether that’s selling it, handing it down, or putting a manager in place, but most business owners don’t know how to navigate the process. They’re experts in their business, but they can find selling quite emotional. "

For Simon's full story go to: www.UnsungBusinessHeroes.com.au/simon-bedard

Simon Bedard, CEO & Founder, Exit Advisory Group

Businesses like this keep many of Australia’s small towns alive. 

Evolving from a one-man regional operation into a local success story employing over fifty staff, Kennedy Trailers has become a multi-generational family dynasty, all born out of an insatiable curiosity and never-say-no work ethic.

When most of us sit down to watch TV, the only thought generally going through our minds is ‘where’s the remote?’, and that’s okay because being entertained is the goal.

When Cory Kennedy sits down in front of his television set, entertainment is the furthest thing from his mind. As he says, “I’ll sit there and think, ‘yes it’s a TV, but it’s a rear projection TV - I wonder how that works? I wonder where the projector actually is’. I’m constantly looking past what it actually is.”

That desire to inquire further was inherited from his father, Garry, who admits to having had an innovative way of playing with toys. “Mum always told the story of how she would buy me a truck from the toy store and by the time I was home I had the back pulled off and was trying to work out how I could put a log trailer on it,” he recalls.

For Garry back then “the hardest part was that I couldn’t weld. I was only six, so I would use bits of wood and pins to make the log trailer.”

Cory’s grandfather - Garry’s father - drove a logging truck and that fascinated him; some of his best memories are of being in the truck with his Dad and working in the shed with him, making something to fit somewhere.

Garry never set out to own a business. It was never a dream to turn his passion for dismantling toy #trucks into a revenue stream. He was quite content to be paid for putting in an honest day’s work.

For more on the Kennedy's #inspiring story go to www.UnsungBusinessHeroes.com.au

Cory and Garry Kennedy, CEO and Founder, Kennedy Trailers

Even as a child Karen Lebsanft felt compelled to take on responsibility for others around her. That role carried over to her work, community and family life to such a degree that it’s only been very recently that she’s realised – after twenty-five years – that she needs to make time for herself. So she made up for lost time, setting a personal challenge of running the New York Marathon.

When is a biscuit not a biscuit? When it’s lavosh!

If you ask Karen Lebsanft, the co-founder and CEO of Kurrajong Kitchen, ‘am I allowed to call it a biscuit?’ you get a very terse reply: “no you are not.”

According to Karen lavosh is a flat bread; technically it is bread made without yeast and historically goes back to Armenia, where every village had their special lavosh recipe.

Karen and her husband Ben perfected their particular technique in the kitchen of Clifford’s restaurant in the New South Wales village of Kurrajong.

“We began serving lavosh to the customers of our restaurant; we would serve it up on cheese platters with dips and salsa and they loved it. In fact they loved it so much customers began asking if they could take some home.”

In a short space of time Karen and Ben were making thirty packets a week to give to their restaurant customers. Fast forward that twenty-five years and they’re now making over seven hundred and fifty thousand pieces of lavosh a day.

For more on Karen and her inspiring story go to: www.UnsungBusinessHeroes.com.au/karen-lebsanft

Karen Lebsanft, CEO & Co-founder, Kurrajong Kitchen

Taking the helm of a technology company using a unique combination of philosophical concepts for staff engagement in tandem with modern customer service strategies has driven the success of this business.

The impact of technology on business has been the biggest game changer in our time; there wouldn’t be a business today that doesn’t rely on some form of technology in its day-to-day running. 

Every business seminar talks about it, and the most popular success stories centre on how companies like Uber, AirBnB and Amazon have led the change. Uber, a taxi company that doesn’t own a car; AirBnB, an accommodation chain that doesn’t own a bed let alone a hotel; and Amazon, a supermarket with no trolleys.

Stephen Canning, the CEO of JCurve Solutions (ASX: JCS), agrees those companies have had a massive impact on the way business is practised in the twenty-first century, but his take is slightly different. “I think the biggest impact those companies have had is in the area of customer expectations,” he says.

Uber claims your waiting time in Sydney for a ride is just over three minutes, so while they have revolutionised the taxi industry, Stephen believes it’s their customer service which is having a greater impact on the wider business community.

For Stephen, “these days it’s about understanding what’s happening with customer expectations and then exceeding those expectations. Whether you’re a small business or a very large business, customer expectations are constantly evolving.

See Stephen's full story at: www.UnsungBusinessHeroes.com.au/stephen-canning

Jacob Ohlson - Power-Net IT Solutions - Humble Beginnings

Unsung Business Heroes

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