Talking Business with Alan Kohler

Australia’s corporate leaders share the passion that drove them to create successful businesses.

Guests

Petra Andrén, CEO of Cicada Innovations, facilitates the connections between technology startups/scaleups and the legal, financial and strategic resources that fuel their growth.

Georgina McEncroe, a comedian, is the founder of Shebah, Australia’s first rideshare service for female-only drivers and passengers.

Veena Sahajwalla, founding director of UNSW’s Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology, invented “green steel” and is revolutionising recycling science.

Martin Halphen, founder of The Fruit Box Group – a workplace fruit-and-milk delivery company – is also behind the launch of The One Box initiative, which helps disadvantaged families with a weekly box of fresh-food basics.

Steven Marks, founder of Mexican restaurant chain Guzman y Gomez, gave up a successful career managing hedge funds on Wall Street to pursue his passion for food. Elias Jreissati and Samantha Jreissati, founder and managing director of Levantine Hill Estate respectively, are benchmarking their wines against the world’s best French drops.

David Prior, founder of Five:am organic yoghurt (which he sold three years ago for $80 million), is now working on a global campaign for the rebirth of Bladnoch, a 200-year-old whisky distillery in Scotland.

Barry Li, chair of CPA Australia’s NSW Young Professionals Committee and an external auditor for the Audit Office of New South Wales, is the author of The New Chinese, a guide to the history, culture and mindset of Chinese migrants in Australia – and the new China.

Tracey Atkins, managing director of Goldeneye Media, specialises in the presentation and distribution of marketing campaigns for the luxury property sector.

Ronnie Baskind, managing director of Kilimanjaro Consulting, uses farming and tribalism principles to run his company, which implements MYOB Exo business solutions.

Caleb Bush, managing director of George P. Johnson Australia, produces major events and manages multiple stakeholder programs for some of the world’s iconic brands.