The Untold Stories of Commerce on the Coast

Full Transcript

Note: the following transcript was generated by AI and therefore may contain some errors and omissions.

But it’s really great to learn from other people and other businesses. You’ll find that most people on the coast are fairly sharing. And just because someone’s in a different sector doesn’t mean that something that they apply in their business wouldn’t really benefit yours as well. So I think, you know, keep your eye line up, unlock those hidden gems, but what can we learn from hidden gems around us? And what can we apply to yourself personally? And what can we apply to our business? That’s a really important thing about engaging and collaborating in the region.

G’day and welcome back to the Coast and Commerce podcast. I’m Ben Amos from Innovate Media and this is the show where we bring stories and inspiration from business leaders across the Sunshine Coast to help you in your business, whether you’re on the Sunshine Coast or not. And one of these inspiring leaders that we’ve got here today is Brady Sullivan, CEO of the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce. I got that right. There’s a lot of C’s in that sentence. But welcome to the show, Brady. How are you? Well, Ben, how are you? I’m doing well. Yeah. Hey, thanks for joining me because…

The Caloundra Chamber of Commerce is, I’ve been a member of the Caloundra Chamber personally in my business for many years. And I believe it’s one of the strongest chambers on the coast. So you also have your finger on the pulse of what’s happening within the business ecosystem on the Sunshine Coast. So really excited to kind of jump in today’s conversation. Yeah, thank you. I’m really lucky. I’m part of an organisation that’s 76 years old. As you said, in terms of…

what the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce is for the Sunshine Coast. Hopefully we help people connect to opportunity, grow knowledge and capacity, but I’m really lucky I’ve got a team around me and I think that’s what differentiates the Coloundra Chamber. We’ve been able to grow a revenue source that has a team that’s their job to help people. Lots of chambers of commerce around, lots of people trying to do great things. We’re really lucky we’ve got a great team to support businesses on the Sunshine Coast.

Yeah. And it really shows. So what’s your story Brady though? So, you know, you haven’t always been in the calandria chamber of commerce. So, you know, what led you into, you know, business in the first place and into, you know, your passion for regional business. Yeah. I guess I come from a slightly different background in terms of the previous people who were in this role. I’m actually a microbial geneticist by training. Okay. I did not expect that. So.

by technology, but found very quickly that I didn’t like working in labs and I liked the commercial side of science. Worked in big pharmaceutical companies for a long period of time. Worked in, interesting, taking a turn, worked in a startup manufacturing company before back to Big Pharma. And then I’m really lucky I had a period of time at home with my kids, my wife’s.

had a senior director’s role at the local hospital, was able to sort of take some restock about what I wanted to do, was passionate about working with and around the community. And luckily for me, was able to take this role and I find this role is a great mix of, for someone who’s interested in business, wants to support the community. But if you’re passionate about making things happen for other people, it’s a role where you can really, you know,

join those gaps. Often people are doing great things and they just don’t have that ability to connect or there’s lots of people starting businesses and they don’t know how to take that first step to meet and work with other businesses. Do things that you do in your business, scream out who they are and what they do. So it’s an awesome job for me. I can live and work around where I live, but I can help my community. I’ve got young kids as well. So I feel like I can.

help create something for their future in the community as well. And as Brady, as you’ve got into, you know, being kind of wrapping yourself in commerce on the Sunshine Coast, in businesses of all sorts on the Sunshine Coast, both in your role in the chamber and prior to that, what surprises you about businesses on the Sunshine Coast or the kinds of businesses we have here? I think the best thing about the Sunshine Coast is that,

Like in Queensland, most business structures made up of small businesses. So there’s some amazing people who are the moms, the dads, the uncles, the aunts, the grandmothers, the grandfathers who are running business. The thing I love is the fact that people on the Sunshine Coast like to support each other. That’s one amazing thing. But the thing that makes me most confident about where our region’s heading is that historically people saw the Sunshine Coast as a region.

that was maybe fairly narrow in the job opportunities. That’s really not the case anymore. We’ve got such large population growth, but the thing that makes me most excited as a father in the region is there’s amazing companies, sectors that one wouldn’t have anticipated to be on the Sunshine Coast, but also such a diversity of skill set that now, if you move to the Sunshine Coast for a traditional role, and perhaps your partner came as well and they worked in a…

profession, maybe 10 years ago, your partner found it really difficult to find a job. And that’s just not the case anymore. There’s some amazing companies here of all different scales. We’ve got business members from startups, sole traders all the way through to multi -billion dollar firms. So I think the Sunshine Coast isn’t a great place and it’s almost like you just want more people to know that. Yeah, I think there is a misconception around the business opportunities on the Sunshine Coast. And, you know,

There’s been so much inter -country migration as well, whatever the word is for that. You know, people moving from Sydney and Melbourne and moving to the Sunshine Coast for the lifestyle. But I think that many of them are doing that thinking, I probably won’t have the opportunities that I had in some of those capital cities. But what do you say to that mindset? Yeah, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. We did have one of the largest intra -state migrations over the last three years, I think.

COVID was the great leveler for people to understand what was important for them in life. And I think what’s wonderful about the Sunshine Coast is you can have an amazing lifestyle, arguably live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. But the way in which commerce has changed, the business has changed and the way in which people engage in their work -life balance, I think the Sunshine Coast now unlocks a lot of work from home, remote working.

Businesses are looking at investing and bringing their place of work to a region where lifestyle is included in that matrix. So not only if you move here, there are different types of jobs that you can do off your own accord, or you can bring that role to the region. But now we’re really attracting investment from around the country, even globally in some circumstances where those roles do exist here.

Um, and what makes me again, really happy as a father of young kids is that we used to see really significant brain drain. And now what’s most important for me is making sure those kids know that those jobs exist. So they know that they can stay or choose to go in and have experiences externally. So Brady, I’m not sure exactly what we’re going to title this episode, but I know from the conversations we’ve had in the past, and the reason why I wanted to bring you on the show is, you know, I refer to this idea of this hidden.

Businesses on the Sunshine Coast. There’s there’s countless businesses that in my role, you know in in marketing businesses Sometimes I have clients come to us who I’ve never heard of before and as we kind of get deeper into them I’m like I had no idea that you guys were doing global stuff from right here on the Sunshine Coast You know some examples of that for example advanced aquarium technology So we had Tim on the show in season one here on the coast and commerce podcast You know, we’ve done some work for them and and I was blown away. I’m like this is a

global business doing large scale aquariums from the Sunshine Coast, you know, also for based in China as well. But, and you know, I know that you’ve got countless stories as well of these businesses that most people either in business or not in the Sunshine Coast don’t even know they exist. It’s, it’s crazy and exciting, right? Yeah. I think it’s probably the biggest opportunity for people in the region is to understand what’s at your back door. But again, the

the world’s really changed. We’ve got really significant growth occurring on the Sunshine Coast. Last year’s estimated population is around 350 ,000 people. By 2046, population projections are looking at 550. So that’s a really significant growth in terms of people live here. It’s a growth in market. But the best thing about commerce these days is that you can run a business like AAT and others, where you can run a business where you’re

clients don’t live on the Sunshine Coast. So there’s room for businesses to be here and grow and not actually compete. And I think e -commerce is a wonderful example of that. Where really significant growth in population, great target market growth. But you can sell electric bikes to Sydney, to Japan, to Europe. The world’s a really different place. And for me,

The business are amazing, but this is an amazing lifestyle to live here. So yeah, great opportunity. And I think the most important thing for the Sunshine Coast is to understand who we are, but to uncover those gems because they’re inspiration for people who are in business and our future entrepreneurs of the Sunshine Coast as well. Yeah. So you mentioned uncovering those gems there, Brady. We talked about advanced aquarium technologies there, but you know, are there some…

examples of businesses that you believe are flying under the radar here on the Sunshine Coast, at least, you know, from a public perception of them even existing here on the coast that you’d like to share to provide that inspiration? Yeah, 100%. I think one of the things too is that some people fly on the radar locally, but are getting national and global, sort of globally significant awards. So I think even as the…

You know, in a stone’s throw from this premise today, we’ve got amazing businesses like Kilcoy Global Food. People would understand the history of that company and know that they’ve got premises in Kilcoy, but I’m not sure many people know that they’ve got offices in Shanghai, Chicago and Botinia. So global head office is Botinia Sunshine Coast. Talking about a business with thousands of staff on the Sunshine Coast alone, looking at employing several hundred more.

at our new $50 million food solutions business. So they’ve really pivoted their business to be a food solutions business in the future, which means that not only are supplying, you know, basic products, they’re also looking at value add all the way along the food chain, pre partially fully cooked meals. That’s an amazing business, but I think…

They’re a great representation of food and agricultural manufacturing on the Sunshine Coast. And we bat so well above our average on the Sunshine Coast when it comes to food and agriculture. And I think it says a lot about the cluster groups we have on the Sunshine Coast. We’ve got some great chambers of commerce, but we’ve got some great cluster groups as well. So the fan group, food and agricultural network.

And also MEF, so the manufacturing excellence firm, those people really, I think that speaks a lot to the culture on the Sunshine Coast bringing up. But they’re just, they’re sort of countless. If we talked about Kilkoi right next door is Country Chef. They make all the banana bread, all the Pavlovas for Woolies, Coles and in Australia. If you look down the road as well and continue, you’ve got people like Greaseboss.

a number of young guys who met at a pitch week a couple of years ago. One, the pitch and on the way home had an international mining firm say, we’d like to buy that product. And it’s turned from in a very short time, three guys with a professional background that understood a gap in the market to now having global opportunities in the mining industry. Looking at how you can graze and maintain heavy industry machining really well.

Then you’ve got people like Ali from Go4Zero in some of the most sort of coveted roles winning e -commerce, national e -commerce awards. So I think, you know, there’s a really good breadth there in terms of startups. We could probably keep naming them all day long. There’s some amazing ones out there, but I think really importantly too, those traditional businesses are…

quite important as well. So we talked about, you know, what would the traditional line of sight be on the Sunshine Coast? If we talk to a child 20 years ago and their parents said, Oh, what can you do if you stay on the coast? They probably said healthcare, retail, construction, hospitality, tourism. You know, they’re still there. They’re still the big employers. These other ones are growing really rapidly and this amazing jobs, but those mainstay employers are actually.

quite more mature as well. So just because you work in hospitality doesn’t mean that you’ve got the role that you thought you had historically. Might have thought about being a waiter or a chef. We’ve got really mature businesses here now. So you’ve got marketing roles, you’ve got finance roles, you’ve got management roles. So the opportunities even in traditional businesses are pretty amazing for people who live on the coast now. So when you talk about those coming up through, you know,

primary and then secondary and into tertiary education. We’ve got great universities here as well, but the perception of when you graduate from whatever level of schooling you go through, that you’re going to have to go to the capital cities to find the career, right? Or overseas perhaps as well, right? To get the career that you want. Do you believe that perception is changing or needs to change? Oh, I think it definitely is changing as people understand what’s at their back door.

And it’s not only long -term career opportunities, but it’s also educational pathways. So I think pathways have matured greatly on the Sunshine Coast. I do think as we spoke about just before, is the fact is that not many people truly understand what is at their back door at the moment. So there is a huge opportunity for the Sunshine Coast for people to have better schooled industry pathways.

better opportunities to engage in experiences while you’re at school. Because I know I went to university thinking that’s the pathway, but I studied what I was good at at school. Didn’t really have that exposure. So if you ask me what the greatest opportunity is in the very short term for growing our own skill sets is getting people engaged in secondary education.

and giving them more understanding what is around in terms of job opportunities, career pathways. That’d be something I’m really passionate about. But I think in an area where we’ve got really low unemployment, we’ve got supply issues with housing, that’s also from a workforce development opportunity. If there’s businesses thinking here, how do I find workforce of the future? These kids love where they live.

we’ve got some amazing young people in our region. They’re a really strong workforce opportunity for businesses on the Sunshine Coast as well. Yeah, I think that’s, you know, the benefit of, or one of the benefits of that interstate migration to the Sunshine Coast is it does build our population, which does increase the population pool potentially for businesses coming here to find the right staff. Because it’s kind of the, it’s a dichotomy of like, you’ve got the residents of the Sunshine Coast who are thinking,

there’s not the business opportunities I need to employ me. But then you’ve also got employers in the past who might not have thought they could set up base on the Sunshine Coast because they might not find the people. They’ve got this mix, but I think that’s changing. They’re kind of the rising tide lifts all boats. Right? Yeah, definitely. And when you look at that population increase, 350 to 550 over a 20 year span, there’s data out from…

Jobs Queensland, who are a third party entity of the state government, that they do work to predict where the jobs growth is going to be across the state. And the Sunshine Coast has the second highest jobs growth prediction, 12 .5 % between 21, 22 and 25, 26. In talking there around the creation of 22 ,000 plus new jobs in that period. So I think we can be really confident that, yes, there is an interesting dichotomy of thought.

over the past, but we’ve got a lot of opportunity. We’ve got, you know, we’re sitting in awe here today. One of the fastest growing communities in Australia. The people that live here are young, vibrant, a lot of young families, a lot of people who are, you know, wedded to living, working and seeing success on the Sunshine Coast. That’s amazing.

But we’ve also got huge opportunities through Marucci CBD, only Greenfield CBD in Australia. We’re already seeing that opportunity attract big businesses to come to the Sunshine Coast. And I think, you know, that’s probably something that’s evolved over the last five years. If you look back and you say, okay, UE’s come, budget insurance come, there’s a number of large professional services firms that are here, employ thousands of people.

across the Sunshine Coast and more abroad. And I think really that’s good for small business all the way through. Because we’re all looking at how we can sell our services, what the opportunities are. And I think everyone should be pretty buoyant that the Sunshine Coast is a great place to do business, it’s a great place to live. I would say people who’ve traveled would understand how great it is where we are.

but it’s an amazing place for young people. It’s probably a better place for young people than it has been in over the last couple of decades and I think that’s exciting. Yeah, yeah, I agree. I love it. So if you think about the businesses who are in business on the Sunshine Coast now, those, you know, large population of small, medium, even down to micro businesses as well, you know, what do you think that, what would be your message to them, you know, to focus on the right things in the future, to…

together lift the Sunshine Coast up further? I think understanding the markets that we have is pretty important. Working with the community, finding and building a workforce across Australia is very difficult. We know we’ve got population growth, so we know that there’s opportunity moving forward. But I think one of the best things is, you know, take a look over your shoulder.

be inspired by other people who’ve done wonderful things here on the Sunshine Coast. You know, some of my board members have grown amazing firms. You know, Will Shrapnel who runs HeliMods is one of the greatest examples of opportunity on the Sunshine Coast. If you’re passionate about your work and you, you know, you really drive hard, you know, HeliMods was started off at $10 ,000 credit card. And we’ve now got one of, you know, Australia’s

best aviation manufacturing firms, one of globally significant firm doing business, not only on the Sunshine Coast, creating wonderful jobs for people on the Sunshine Coast, giving young kids an opportunity to see what professional services and opportunities are on the Sunshine Coast, you know, but delivering products worldwide that make a difference in people’s lives. So the work that Halimods is currently doing in British Columbia helps people.

Um, you know, delivers outcomes that change people’s lives. So I think if you’re a business on the sunshine coast and you’re thinking, you know, what can I actually achieve here? If you, you know, uncover those hidden gems for me, it should give you a really great inspiration that, you know, you can deliver good outcomes for your community. You can create wealth for your family, but from the sunshine coast, you can really have really significant.

impact outside of the Sunshine Coast if you choose and you partner with local people who want to bring you up as well. Yeah, I think that idea of not operating your business in a bubble or staying in your lane, but actually looking for those opportunities to connect, to network, to join chambers of commerce and to really understand the other businesses that are around you in the geography that your business is based is hugely valuable, regardless of the size of the business, right?

I think right there you’ve probably unlocked one of the secrets is knowing to know what you don’t know you need to step out of your comfort zone. So having your eyes up looking above that horizon is really important for everyone in business. Anyone who wants to achieve needs to be aspirational. But you’ll find that there’s other people around you have the same mentality. And if you can surround yourself with people who are…

aspirational, want to achieve great things for themselves and also yourself by collaborating, you’ll do really well. And I think that’s why, you know, engaging with business groups can be really positive for someone’s experience. Engaging with cluster groups that understand your sector and can unlock doors is really powerful as well. So, Caloundra Chamber is one example of a successful Chamber of Commerce on the coast, but there’s lots of business support groups that, you know,

If you haven’t been to one of these before, you know, try them out. Yeah. You know, come along to a calendar chamber event or get to know the calendar chamber team, get to know Marucci chamber team, get to know a MF team member. Cause what I think you’ll find is that there’s lots of people like yourself who want to do business with local people. Um, it’s a way to, you know, create friendship groups. I always say that I like, I’ve got a particular board member who said,

She started in business on the sunshine coast. She joined the calendar chamber and she felt like it was almost like a family, a clique who got her. She talked to her friends about what it was like to be in business and they’d never paid payroll tax. They had never thought, or, you know, how do I make this organisational system or structure work? So it gives you another cohort of people that understand business. They understand what you’re going through and they can give you great supports. Um,

We’ve got a corporate group of members. So 15 people who are in a slightly different membership group within the chamber. And they’re larger businesses on the Sunshine Coast either by revenue size or employment scale. And what we see, because they meet with our main group and they also do some things by themselves, we find when they’re off having their events by themselves.

They’ve got friends just like them. But what they’re doing is peer to peer knowledge transfer. They just don’t know it. They’re having a drink or they’re having dinner, they’re having a chat and they’re saying, well, what’s happening in your business? You know, what keeps you up at night and what keeps their colleague up at night? It’s probably the same thing that keeps them up at night. So there’s this understanding, this mutual lift, but it’s really great to learn from other people and other businesses. You’ll find that most people on the coasts.

are fairly sharing. And just because someone’s in a different sector doesn’t mean that something that they apply in their business wouldn’t really benefit yours as well. So I think, you know, keep your eye line up, unlock those hidden gems, but what can we learn from hidden gems around us? And what can we apply to ourself personally? And what can we apply to our business? That’s a really important thing about engaging and collaborating in the region. I think that concept of knowledge transfer that you shared with your board group.

within the chamber is equally true regardless of the phase of business or size of business that you’re in. By learning from others who are going through similar problems with you or going through the same kind of stages of growth in business, regardless of the industry that they’re in, there’s so much to learn from collaborative rather than competition approaches. Yeah, exactly. Just in closing here, Brady, as we’ve talked about kind of what the…

the businesses on the Sunshine Coast can kind of do to lift the business world of the Sunshine Coast. But what would you say to those, if they’re listening, those hidden gems, those hidden businesses that are doing global things, employing heaps of people, but they’re staying hidden on the Sunshine Coast. What would you say to them to encourage them to allow themselves to be more known across?

the local economy as much as they probably are already known globally? Yeah, I think that’s a great question because that’s something that we would love businesses to do is tell their story. If you looked at people who I think have been really successful, you know, Lust Minerals, Ali from Go4Zero, they’ve got, in an e -commerce product, they’ve got loyal bases, fan bases, they have…

amazing products. If you look at Kilcoy Global Food or if you looked at Country Chef, you looked at that Grease Boss, even HeliMods, like there’s, I know, that’s just a small cohort of businesses that are here. They’re busy being busy and they’re busy being successful, but you know, if you can tell that story, if you can engage, you can give back, you’re gonna bring everybody up. And I think the biggest thing we can do is, um,

You know, the old concept of working in your business, not working on sometimes working on your business is actually giving back as well to your community because it brings up your whole community, gives you a better workforce in the future, helps you deliver better suppliers and buyers in your region as well. So the best thing those big businesses can do that are successful is give back to the community. What does that look like? It can be really different. It can be sharing and knowledge. It could be mentoring people.

And I think it just comes down to that sort of almost like a clock of business life cycle. If you thought back to, if you’re really successful, if you thought back to that, you know, start of that clock, what would you have liked to know there? What opportunities could you have obtained if you had some more knowledge? But, you know, what can you give back to the start of that business life cycle where they’re not making the same mistakes? Because I think, you know, mistakes are the largest cost.

Mistakes are great in business to make. We all think that making mistakes are terrible, but learning and taking a swing is the most important. But if you’re really successful, you’re listening today, and maybe ask yourself, what do we do to engage with other parts of the community? What do we do to engage with universities, with schools? And what can we grow for other people?

there’s gonna be benefits to you as well. You know, engaging with community, developing your brand only lifts you up. Knowing that you’re a great place to work makes young people who live on the Sunshine Coast wanna work for you too. So I think, you know, you give and you get. So if you’re a small business today listening and you’re saying, geez, can I make it on the Sunshine Coast? You know, yes you can. There’s amazing businesses here. If you’re medium, you’re growing. Awesome, grind hard, get there.

But if you’re a business that’s done really well, it’s really important to give back to your community. It’s only going to bring you up. But I think that’s the, you know, every stage of the life cycle is something that you can give to the Sunshine Coast. And it’s something that Sunshine Coast is willing to give you back as well. And I believe together, you know, by doing that, lifting the perception of the Sunshine Coast globally as a place to live in and do business, you know, that may be changing that idea of, you know, to be a successful global company, you need to have in the footer of your website, like,

Sydney, New York, you know, Milan, Hong Kong, whatever London, you know, that’s your standard kind of head offices, but why not have Sunshine Coast there proudly as well? Yeah, exactly. Um, I think if you look at the digital assets were growing here, you can be a global business. Um, if you look at the growth here and the type of people who live here, uh, amazing workforce. Um, even if you look at the economic growth, you know, really significant.

gross regional product growth over the last financial year. Up to $21 billion economy on the Sunshine Coast. So a great place to live, great place to work, but it’s also a great place to invest on the Sunshine Coast. Because the opportunity here is enormous, but it’s a great place to base yourself to also take opportunity of those mainstays externally as well. I think, you know, quite easily for us to see in the future.

Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Sunshine Coast is the place that you should live, work and enjoy yourself. Love it. Great spot to end here, Brady. You’re a real champion of business across Caloundra, but also the Sunshine Coast as a wider business ecosystem as well. So thanks for coming on and joining the show here today. Thanks, Ben. Thanks for having me today. And thanks for helping share the stories of business on the Sunshine Coast. Yeah, it’s important stories to tell. And for you guys watching or listening,

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, there’s more to come. You mentioned the Manufacturing Excellence Forum. So we’ve got Tim Kelly coming up on the show real soon as well, who’s from the Manufacturing Excellence Forum. So if you’re in manufacturing on the Sunshine Coast or interested in that industry, keep watching or listening and hit that subscribe button on YouTube, hit the follow button on whatever podcast player you’re listening. And we’ll be back with you real soon with another episode of the Coast and Commerce Podcast.