A wizard in Oz
Backing herself to be an entrepreneur has taken one Cantabrian on a huge journey of discovery.
CANTABRIANDEB Noller left Newzealand aged 16 for better work opportunities across the Tasman. Although she found success in Australia, Deb believes that with the right mindset, hard work and good ideas, people can now become entrepreneurs from anywhere.
‘‘Mine is better than any day job you’ll ever get. Every day I’m creating something – whether it’s software or a business – building something real from scratch. For this reason I could never be a lawyer or accountant.
‘‘I’m also inspiring change – in building design, installation, individual behaviour and thinking – making people’s home and work environments more energy efficient and more liveable.
‘‘One of the hilarious things about being awomanin business here is that people still make old-fashioned assumptions that businesses are run
IT business entrepreneur. Co-founded four software companies
Computer programmer, Queensland
Clerk, Queensland Dept of Social Security Education
Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Computer Science – James Cook University, Townsville.
to take Switch to the global market on a phenomenal scale. by men. I often answer the phone and the caller will ask to speak with someone technical.
‘‘When I first started in business, flight attendants would assume the male sitting withmewasmypartner, even a complete stranger.
‘‘I finished school in Christchurch in 1979 and moved withmyparents and three siblings to the Gold Coast wheremyfather started a building business andmymother purchased a real estate agency. Australia is the ultimate land of opportunity; there are so many migrants who, like us, came with nothing .
‘‘After 25 years working in Australia, myparents now spend their days barging around France.
‘‘I was a sciences kid at school but after a couple of false starts, I realised business wasmycalling. In the 80s, I started a commerce degree and stumbled across IT, falling instantly in love with it. In the 90s, I metmybusiness partner John Darlington whenwewere working as programmers for a Cairns company. Westarted a company which developed logistics and planning solutions for some of the world’s largest international mining companies and from 1997, wecould see the internet was going to change the way the world worked.
‘‘We launched Switch Automation in 2005 and after four years in traditional automationwerealised that cloud-based technologies [software as a service run over the internet] could create considerable benefits for intelligent buildings.
‘‘The model is flexible, scalable and cost-effective; perfect for rapid growth. The benefit for our customers is the ability to control their home or building – from its security and intercom to lighting and air-conditioning – with any webenabled device.
‘‘Our goal is to create the smartest and greenest buildings on the planet. We’re a tiny Sydney-based start-up that can compete with much larger