Seeing north power ahead
OWEN WATERS, THE FNQ FINANCE GUY, SAYS THE REGION HAS BECOME MORE POSITIVE IN THE PAST TWO YEARS, REFLECTED IN BUILDING ACTIVITY, AND IS HEADING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, WRITES
BUOYED by the city’s growing sense of optimism, Owen Waters is one of many small business owners in Cairns carving out a livelihood and lifestyle for themselves.
With 30 years’ experience in banking, Mr Waters is the FNQ Finance Guy – the financial expert behind the groovy logo and business of the same name.
After moving to Cairns a decade ago, the father-of-two grown up children said he immediately felt at home, despite having traversed much of NSW and Queensland, including visiting the remote Thursday Island, for work.
“I love being out and about here in the environment. I think a lot of people with a similar mindset are attracted to that, and the people are a bit more friendly and a bit more casual, and it is easier to connect with clients because you have more in common, I find,” said the son of dairy farmers, who grew up in Deniliquin in country NSW.
“My take on the region is, I feel, particularly the past 18 months to two years, it seems to be much more positive. I’m not saying it was really negative before but I think that’s come about through some of the projects starting. It feels to me like Cairns and Far North Queensland is heading in the right direction.”
Although FNQ Finance Guy was only launched in 2016, Mr Waters is keen to grow it to a point where he is working on the business, not in the business.
He said a stint working with the Torres Strait Regional Authority, helping indigenous businesses improve or get new ideas off the ground, cemented his love of the creative side of running a business.
“I worked in an indigenous tourism business for six weeks in Arnhem Land, too, with the Commonwealth Bank, and I came to the realisation there is this awesome culture that I didn’t know about. I thought I knew about it but I didn’t really,” Mr Waters said.
“I’m still a start-up and developing my business and it does take quite a while in the industry I’m in.
“The thing I do enjoy the most is talking to people, the strategy, the marketing. Absolutely if I could right now I’d get someone in. I have other interests as well that I will ultimately go towards, like advising businesses.”
The transformation from banker to adviser to small business owner has been fluid but not surprising for Mr Waters, who, after school, needed a job
and started work in a bank while he figured out what he wanted to do.
“Twenty-seven years later I thought, ‘OK I want to see what I want to do, now’. I think what it did allow me to do was move around quite a bit and professionally I just got further north in Australia. It wasn’t necessarily by design,” he explained.
Despite the negative press around banking from the recent royal commission, Mr Waters still believes there is a lot of good in Australia’s banking industry.
“Those issues are not unique to banking at all, but it’s one of those industries that people get emotional about,” Mr Waters said.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have a royal commission but I am worried about the consequences to come out of it.
“There will be a lot more legislation and pressure put on the industry and ultimately the people who will miss out are people like you and me because we can’t get loans.
“We need to highlight the need for brokers more so it keeps banks accountable. That’s important in any industry, not just banking.
“Many people don’t realise they have a choice when it comes to loans. It has become a little bit more acceptable when it comes to home loans and it has certainly changed in the 10 years since I got here, but people have to know there is potentially something better for them.”
On a weekend or in his precious spare time, Mr Waters can be found hiking, training for his first triathlons – in Noosa and Yungaburra this year – and doing “anything that gets me out and about”.
That love of the outdoors is something he wants to be able to preserve, even as Cairns continues to develop and grow.
“One of the reasons I love living here is because of the outdoors. I’m involved with the Committee for Waste Reduction and I just hope we are always mindful of not trashing what we’ve got. There has to be a balance,” he said.
WE NEED TO HIGHLIGHT THE NEED FOR BROKERS MORE SO IT KEEPS BANKS ACCOUNTABLE OWEN WATERS