Somerset Celebration of Entrepreneurship 2020

05

Amanda Appel is the co-founder of multiple businesses, ranging from skincare brand, BLOC, to venue, The Bower Estate. After a varied career in non-profit, consulting and in-house roles across marketing and PR disciplines, Amanda found her skillset more suited to creating new projects. Moving back to the Gold Coast from Brisbane seven years ago, Amanda began her business journey setting up The Skin Centre Medi Spa. Four businesses later, all still trading to this day, she has vast experience in all aspects of creating something new in multiple industries. While a planner, an important aspect to any business is the ability to pivot, and this has been key to Amanda’s success. In 1995, Kenton made the move to Australia as a consultant to the espresso coffee trade, educating the industry about the added value espresso carts could bring to their business and working as a Barista. After convincing his wife to co-sign a $9,000 personal loan they established Zarraffa’s, on the Gold Coast, in 1996. What was originally a roasting house operating from the backstreets of Southport on the Gold Coast, where customers would come in for their coffee and perch on hessian bags of unroasted beans, has become a Leanne Kemp is Founder and CEO of Everledger and Queensland’s third Chief Entrepreneur. She is a highly regarded leader in many fields including technology and insurance, and well-known for her innovations using Blockchain technology to track high-value assets such as diamonds, art and wine. Leanne works on a global scale to encourage entrepreneurship and innovation and is an advocate of sustainability in business. She was also recently appointed as an Adjunct Professor in the Institute for Future Environment at the Queensland University of Technology. Leanne has won many awards including Innovator of the Year twice. to set up Scooter Hut in late 2008, in a small warehouse in Burleigh Heads. Over the past nine years, Scooter Hut has grown from a small one-person business into the world’s largest freestyle scooter retailer. Scooter Hut operate six retail locations, an online e-commerce division, a social media following of 400,000, employs over 70 staff and reported an annual turnover of $30 Scott MacKintosh became interested in scooters through a family friend and decided

Rob Garwood is the Director and Creative Director at FIRME Agency. Born in Brisbane and currently residing in Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast; Firme is an award— winning independent multidisciplinary advertising agency and production studio, disrupting the traditional way of thinking, connected by design, creatively led and culturally aware. As Director and Creative Director at FIRME, Rob oversees all creative and strategic efforts for agency clients and new business, including brand and business strategy, innovation, production and media. Aaron is the founder of Peak Persona, which is a program to help individuals unlock potential and build personal and team resilience, with clients including global giants like Google and YouTube. He is currently serving as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Queensland University of Technology and also at Mackay Split Spaces. Aaron Birkby was named Entrepreneur of the Year in 2016, after successfully building multiple technology companies, and has since has served as board member of StartupAUS and has led 17 trade missions to Silicon Valley, Israel, and Europe. Today Clark Kirby is the Chief Executive Officer of Village Roadshow. Prior to his appointment to this position in January 2020, Clark was the Chief Operating Officer at Village Roadshow for 7 years. Clark completed a Master of Applied Finance and Investment at Macquarie University in 2005 and also holds a Bachelor of Information Technology from Bond University. Clark is a Board Member at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and the My Room Children’s Cancer Charity. Clark’s interests include promoting tourism on the Gold Coast through active involvement in the Gold Coast Tourism Corporation. Airlie has been a Director of HOTA for the past 3 years and is excited to continue that journey for a further 3 years. Airlie has been in management leadership roles in the private, public, philanthropic and not-for-profit sectors for over 25 years. Across her career she has worked for some well-known Australian organisations including Clayton Utz, Minter Ellison, Outward Bound Australia, the Grains Research and Development Corporation and Kowalski Recruitment. In addition to being a Director of HOTA she is CEO of Hynes Legal, a Director of Storyfest and the Thyne Reid Foundation. She has an MBA and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She is, most importantly, a Somerset Mum.

AMANDA APPEL Makki

AARON BIRKBY Peak Pesonsa

franchise success story. KENTON CAMPBELL Zarraffa’s Coffee

ROB GARWOOD FIRME Agency

LEANNE KEMP Everledger

CLARK KIRBY Village Roadshow

million in 2016. SCOTT MACKINTOSH Scooter Hut

AIRLIE MACLACHLAN HOTA, Home of the Arts