My humble beginnings
The star of ‘The Mentor’ reflects on the work ethic and family unity that set him up for mega success
Ayellow brick road of possibilities opened up for Mark Bouris when he was around 13, thanks to a savvy classmate selling his mum’s toffees in the playground for a few cents each. “I’ll never forget this kid,” says Bouris, who lived in the south-western Sydney suburb of Punchbowl. “I thought, ‘ Wow, that’s good. He’s making money!’ ” Duly inspired, he crafted a classic-style wooden pipe out of an old cricket stump and showed his friends. “I started making them and selling them,” the celebrity businessman tells WHO. “It took off.”
Call it a glimmer of his Midas touch to come. Today, the former host of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia, founder of Wizard Home Loans and executive chairman of the financial management company Yellow Brick Road, is helping transform the fortunes of struggling small-business owners in Seven’s new series The Mentor (starting April 23, 9 PM). “I spend five days with every owner, every business, and I get to know their families and everything that’s going on in their lives,” says Bouris, 61, who guides entrepreneurs including florists and bakers on the show that’s inspired by his successful podcast of the same name. “They contribute massively to the economy, yet there’s a huge percentage of them that do it tough every single day. They live this stressful life, and they never give up—they just want to improve their business and improve their lot for their families.”
That same tenacity and fierce work ethic was modelled by Bouris’s parents, Marsha and Greek-immigrant George, as he grew up the eldest of three children. “They were ambitious people, trying to do better all the time. My dad worked ridiculously long hours in a factory but he had all these little odd jobs after work and in the holidays—he was always trying to earn an extra quid and my mum was the same,” he reflects. “So I grew up in that smallbusiness environment and I’m used to it. I have great memories of it.”
The other lesson seared onto the young Bouris’s heart was family unity. “Our whole lives revolved around aunties and uncles and cousins,” he recalls of his large extended clan, many of whom moved in to his threebedroom childhood home at various times. “Everybody was always helping each other.”
It’s a tradition Bouris has carried into his own parenting. The father of four—he will not discuss his relationship status—is “very close” to his sons: Dane, 36, Alexander, 30, Nick, 28, and James, 26, who lives with him at his eastern-suburbs home. “We’ve got this Whatsapp thing and we’re talking every day on it,” says Bouris, with a laugh. The five—“all tragic Eastern Suburbs supporters”—go to the rugby and boxing bouts together, and deal swiftly with any “issues” that arise between them. “Sometimes you have massive challenges and you have to sort it,” he says, “but it’s rare.”
Bonding with his boys and grandson, keeping to his exercise regimen and tending his vegie patch is what the mogul most treasures these days.
“I love my garden. I watched my dad and his brother always grow their own food,” says Bouris, who visits his parents most Sundays. “I just like keeping it simple.”
“Everybody was always helping each other” —Mark Bouris