Many routes to success in business

Ian Clarke

Six more of the contenders for this year's big award.

Ian Clarke, Fronde
From gumboots and Swanndri to business suit and briefcase, you could say Fronde managing director Ian Clarke has not travelled the traditional route into leading a top technology company.

Clarke started out in South Otago as a sheep and beef farmer, but after deciding farming wasn't for him, he returned to university and completed an MBA at Otago.

From there, Clarke moved into the natural gas industry, worked at TVNZ, and then in IT. During this time he gained experience in a range of sectors - something he says has helped during his time at Fronde.

The company provides a wide range of IT services, including cloud-based enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management, as well as software and mobile solutions.

Clarke has been Fronde's chief executive since 2008. The past three years in particular have seen rapid expansion in the company, with a new executive team and more than 50 per cent growth in sales and marketing staff. Fronde reported revenue of $59.9 million for the 2013 financial year, up $12.4 million on the previous year.

His strategy is to try to be as open as possible to new opportunities. "I do believe that opportunity will always come along when you truly put yourself in the road of opportunity, which means both your skill set and your mindset."

Warren Stephens, Lifetime Group

Like co-finalist Ian Clarke, Lifetime Group chief executive Warren Stephens also started out as a farmer, before switching track in 1995 and joining AMP as a life insurance agent. In 2000 Stephens sat down with the local AMP principal and outlined his wishes to buy the business.

Three months and a half-million dollar deal later, he had signed an agreement to take over the operation, which would evolve into Lifetime Group.

He was appointed chief executive in 2002 and was instrumental in Lifetime Group's expansion, which included its acquisition of Lifetime Financial Security in 2006 and Swain Financial Services in 2009.

The company provides insurance and home loans for its customers, as well as investment advice. The Christchurch-based operation has expanded to a nationwide business, with offices around the country, including Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington and Nelson.

When he isn't working, Stephens can be found playing squash, tennis, golf, at the snow, or spending time with his wife and two daughters.

Pic Picot, Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter

Pic Picot is creating a peanut butter empire, founded on the belief that everyone should be able to enjoy healthy food.

Back in 1990, he realised that Americans were adding sugar to their peanut butter. While New Zealand peanut butter was still sugar-free, Picot says he could see the writing on the wall, and that the sugar-added product was on its way here too. And so he set out to create a peanut butter that was healthy and "really good".

Picot began selling his original homemade and hand-roasted peanut butter at his local Sunday market in Nelson, but as demand rose, he realised it was going to have to be all or nothing.

Seven years on, Pic's Really Good Peanut Butter is now turning over more than $4 million and selling in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Britain, China and Europe. The team produce about 7000 jars of peanut butter every day in their Nelson factory and have expanded into other products, including peanut oil.

True to his dream, Picot's peanut butter contains just peanuts and salt. And that, he says, is his business in a peanut shell.

Michael Marr, TPT Group
Despite the questioning of his former boss and his lawyer, Michael Marr launched TPT Group of Companies in 1999, and has never looked back.

Initially, however, Marr was put under a lot of pressure, starting the business with a loan secured against his house, at which point his lawyer asked, "Do you know what you are doing?".

Despite that small start, TPT Group now has 11 branches nationwide and Marr has successfully progressed through seven start-ups and five acquisitions with TPT, as well as earning several business awards and commendations along the way.

The business now runs firms involved in electronic security, finance, commercial and industrial property and vehicle rental.

Growth has been built on a strong company culture focused on valuing employees, as well as continually striving for excellence. This is also based on Marr's belief that a healthy organisational culture is the key to commercial success.

Mark Rice, CDB

GoldairMark Rice, a director of CDB Goldair, has a reputation for knowing what works and how to get the best results.

That reputation has been tested many times, not least on the day he launched the company, with the kiwi worth just over US39c. Rice's reasoning was that if he could make money in tough conditions, things could only get better.

CDB Goldair began in 2000 as a small importer focusing on selling videotapes and recordable media. The company then progressed into electrical accessories, with 150 products.

Goldair now has 1800 product lines and a broad category of brands, and describes itself as New Zealand's largest importer of electrical appliances and accessories. It has also moved into Australia, securing distribution deals with some of its largest retailers, including Mitre 10, Kmart and Harvey Norman.

Grant Straker, Straker Translations

Growing up, Grant Straker spent most of his time travelling the world - first with his father, who was a pilot, then with the British Army, where Straker served in the elite Parachute Regiment.

Straker says he was one of the last people ever to guard the Berlin wall, and was there when it came down. He was also in Iraq when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. These days, his life is a bit less physically demanding, as chief executive of translation business Straker Translations.

Although things have changed a lot for Straker, he credits many of the skills learned in the army - being self-reliant, resourceful and disciplined - with helping him get to where he is today.

After his army time, Straker decided to train as a commercial pilot, but a serious car crash ended those plans and in 1994 he returned home to New Zealand to study mechanical engineering.

Straker found he had a knack for computer programming, and in 1999 he founded Straker Translations.

The company is cloud-based and uses crowdsourcing, professional translators and advanced translation technology to speed up the process of language translation, allowing businesses and consumers to communicate globally easily and speedily.

The translation technology business is worth about $40 billion worldwide, and Straker is doing his best to lead in this field, while taking time out every so often to go fishing with his children.