Andrew Northcott has gone from teenage drover, to founder and CEO of one of the fastest growing blue collar workforce management organisations in Australia, to developing a profitable portfolio of investments - and he is not even 35.
Mr Northcott was named a Young Alumnus of the Year at the QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards in Brisbane today.
The awards recognise excellence in professional, academic and research achievements and contributions.
Mr Northcott graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science (Property Economics) from QUT in 2010 but his entrepreneurial spirit started before he donned his cap and gown.
As a student and with just $800 and a laptop, Mr Northcott hired himself and his university mates as labour to construction firms.
In the first year his business turned over $55,000, the following year it skyrocketed to more than $550,000, today it is annualising 100m in revenue.
"Rather than going overseas to do my gap year I decided to go bush and learn some life experiences jackerooing," he said.
"When I came to QUT I had a lot of mates who were from the bush. We were good workers and I saw a need for good labour, that's where it all started."
"It started as a hobby but we picked up a couple of corporate clients and then it quickly turned into a multi-million dollar enterprise."
In 2007, Mr Northcott said Labour Solutions Australia (LSA) went from hobby to business, when he opened a couple of branch offices and grew the client base across the food manufacturing, transport and agriculture sectors.
"Then the GFC hit. 2008 and 2009 were tough years. We were in survival mode but by 2010 we had learnt valuable lessons about driving efficiency through innovation and systemising the business and that's when the business really started taking off," he said.
"We became innovative and we looked at what we could automate and how we could make our systems as efficient as possible. It was all about scalability and without that we couldn't have achieved the growth rates that we experienced in the following years.
"The GFC wasn't the defining moment but it pushed us to come up with systems, efficiencies and a strong client focused culture, and we used this knowledge over the next two to three years to build the business."
Within eight years, LSA had developed into a market leader and in December 2013 Mr Northcott sold it to Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company Adcorp Holdings, a company which manages workforces throughout 17 countries.
"I am now focused on a new venture, Austpec Holdings, which is a company I founded in 2010," he said.
"Austpec holds a portfolio of investments, we are using the experience and knowledge that we gained over the years building LSA to create industry best systems through innovation whilst attracting strong management teams within our operating businesses to perpetuate the enduring success of these businesses."
With a portfolio of operating businesses including a large oil shale asset and fuels distribution business, cattle breeding and a technology enabled business, Austpec also takes long-term strategic positions in equities, property, mezzanine finance and senior debt to create a diversified and low risk income stream to support the growth activities of the business.
"We are about creating long-term value with a particular emphasis on maximising the potential of the operating businesses through a core strategy of investing in or creating new opportunities that are well positioned for profitable, long term growth and success, whilst focusing on developing and aligning top tier management to ensure the enduring success of each group business.
Mr Northcott's other achievements include receiving the 2012 Business News Entrepreneur Trail Blazer Award, the 2012 Australian Institute of Management Manager of the Year Award. He has also been a finalist in the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (2011) and Queenslander of the Year Awards (2010) and is a member of 400 CEOs from around the world who attend the global Forbes CEO conference.
Media contact:
Sandra Hutchinson, QUT Media (Tue, Wed), 07 3138 9449 or media@qut.edu.au
After hours, Rose Trapnell, 0407 585 901
