Talking Business With Alan Kohler

Christian has worked as a speech writer and economic advisor in the House of Lords. Was ‘Chief of Staff and Markets’ at an agriculture and renewable-energy company in Zimbabwe. Has consulted for firms in Iraq, Sweden, the US and the UK. Holds numerous degrees including a PhD in International Relations from Oxford.  Head of end-to-end payments provider Monoova, Christian has some interesting opinions around what the future of payments will look like over the next decade. In fact, even though we are transacting more than ever, he believes payments will completely vanish from the world’s advanced economies by 2030. Monoova services businesses through their entire payments cycle, end-to-end. Through a single API integration, clients get access to a fully automated way of receiving, managing and paying funds. Also discusses how Monoova is doing loads of exciting things including recently becoming one of a very small group of non-banks to be enabled on the New Payments Platform (NPP).

Isentia (ASX:ISD) is a leading integrated Media Intelligence and Insights business with operations in 11 markets. Isentia blends market-leading monitoring experience with analytics to help the world’s biggest brands uncover the whole picture – and act on it. Powered by cutting-edge technology and a team of world class experts, our mission is to help businesses leap-forward where only genuine insight can take them. Khali discusses Isentia’s recent Leadership Index series entitled ‘Leading Though Crisis’ which sheds a light on how four renowned leaders - Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Rugby Australia’s CEO Raelene Castle, Boeing CEO, Dennis Muilenburg and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - have navigated some of the world’s most turbulent crises of 2019, revealing their strengths and weaknesses and what business leaders can learn from them.

James Mawhinney is the founder and Managing Director of Mayfair 101, an international investment group with a portfolio spanning more than 11 countries. He has substantial commercial experience in local and overseas markets in investment management, mergers & acquisitions, initial public offerings (IPO's), initial coin offerings (ICO's) and high growth businesses. He has done business in the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Israel, Canada, Poland, Italy and New Zealand, with transaction sizes ranging up to USD500 million .  Discusses Personal finance when interest rate drops, Non-bank alternatives for investors, Business expansion and global development, The launch of a new brand Mayfair Platinum, providing exclusive access to investment opportunities typically only accessed by family offices, investment banks, stockbrokers and ultra-wealthy investors.

Laura Keily, the founder of Immediation (and also a commercial barrister), who is looking to disrupt the old school / outdated legal industry. The recently launched Immediation is a world-first Australian platform aiming to modernise the archaic court system by moving legal disputes online and subsequently making it simpler and more cost effective — cost savings are up to 98% compared to traditional court-based disputes (e.g. a claim worth $5 million would traditionally cost $300,000; with Immediation it’s $7,000).

Avaya builds open, converged and innovative solutions to enhance and simplify communications and collaboration – in the cloud, on-premise or a hybrid of both. They are a technology company that deliver Experiences that Matter. Peter discusses  a report conducted by Vanson Bourne for Avaya, that forms part of a study into AI maturity & found that despite the hype around AI, the  findings suggest that 42pc of Australian enterprises lack understanding and skills for Artificial Intelligence. The research reflects the difference between Australia’s ambitions and reality; we are recognised as a mature technology nation, however despite the appetite for ‘advanced technologies’, use cases involving them are more nascent. Furthermore only 24% of Australian enterprises currently have a fully-implemented AI strategy, while 90% say AI is among the most important tech for 2019. Meanwhile, 59% want to adopt more AI, but don’t know how to do so, reflecting the increasing need for

Mina Radhakrishnan is the co-founder of proptech start up :Different, the homegrown company on a mission to rebuild property management in Australia. The current property management model is built on charging unnecessarily high fees to property owners, while delivering sub-par experiences. :Different challengers this status quo, combining smart tech with expert property manager to help property owners save time and money, and provide a better service. Mina talks to her experience in Silicon Valley (leading product divisions at Uber and Google) and how this has shaped her view of business and technology. She also discusses  :Different’s growth in Australia and why it’s on a mission to rebuild property management & what’s next for proptech in Australia.

Michael Whytlaw is founder of Wodonga based Advanced Design Innovations and has over 20 years experience working as a Mechanical Engineer, 9 of which has been in Bespoke and Customised Engineering. He has worked on Projects in NSW, SA, Qld and Victoria, and more recently has picked up projects overseas. He discusses his design innovation & grassroots Australian manufacturing & innovation from the coalface. He shares his insights on approaching potential global export markets from a regional base. He believes that the product has fantastic export potential and  are now just starting to export overseas into Europe, Middle East, Africa, USA and locally in NZ and Australia. Michael has big hopes for the product.In particular the Retrac Louvre TM Facades the first of it’s kind in the world.

Australian Payroll Association is Australia’s leading network in payroll training, consulting and advisory for employers. It offers end-to-end payroll process reviews, compliance auditing, specialist recruitment services, payroll qualifications and training courses, and a membership program. She discusses an APA report finding 9 in 10 organisations find government legislation or employee awards difficult to interpret, with 93% of payroll managers agreeing that many of these clauses need to be revised or made simpler. The data from the Australian Payroll Association (Australian Payroll Association) also found that 58% of payroll manager had to seek advice from another payroll, HR or legal expert to clarify particular awards or pieces of legislation to enable them to pay employees correctly. Organisations say employee legislation and awards are confusing or contradictory and need revision. Government legislation or employee awards difficult to interpret, with most agreeing that many of these clauses need

Ramez Naam is part of the US based Singularity University & believes that using exponential technologies can help solve environmental and natural resource challenges of climate change, energy, water, and food. This would be particularly beneficial for Australia’s farming sector. Christina Gerakiteys is a creativity and innovation catalyst. Her purpose is to create a Utopian society by opening hearts and minds to inspire impossible to possible. She discusses SingularityU Australia’s purpose and mission. SingularityU is a global learning and innovation community using exponential technologies to tackle the world's biggest challenges, create impact for good, and build a better future for all.    

BNP Paribas Securities Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the BNP Paribas Group, is a leading global custodian and securities services provider. Backed by the BNP Paribas Group they provide multi-asset post-trade and asset servicing solutions for buy and sell-side market participants, corporates and issuers. With local expertise in 36 countries and a global reach covering 90+ markets, BNP’s network is one of the most extensive in the industry, enabling clients to maximise their investment opportunities worldwide. David has been in the financial security services industry for more than 20 years and joined BNP Paribas in May 2015. His focus is developing and building a fantastic Securities service business & believes it is important to the overall health of financial services. Discusses what custody is, why it is important, how it works & who actually owns the assets? Also talks to the Latest local trends including Quicker reporting & the DLT (distributed ledger technology) CHESS replaceme

Mark joined nib health funds limited in October 2002 as Chief Executive Officer and led nib through its demutualisation and listing on the ASX in 2007. Mark is a Director of nib holdings limited as well as its subsidiary boards. We spoke with him a few years back and thought it might be a good time to revisit the state PHI sector particularly with Mark’s strong opinions on our healthcare system. Mark went out on a limb recently and discussed potential changes to the universal health care system that many Australians seem to unanimously support – was that a mistake or do we need to recognise that our nation’s healthcare system is not that healthy after all? He nominates the key factors that would improve the Australian healthcare system.

Adele is a multi-award winning Business Writer, Columnist & Author. Her investigations go behind corporate spin & expose corporate wrongdoing. She is a strong advocate for improving whistleblower protections & giving vulnerable people a voice. Her series of investigations into the banks over the past five years helped bring about a royal commission into the sector. Her book 'Banking Bad' tells the story behind the Hayne royal commission & how corporate greed broke our trust & failed Australia.

Claire collected her first beehive in 2007, transporting it home in the back of her small hatchback. Fast forward & the Kyneton farmer is celebrating as 2019 Victorian AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award winner & National Runner-up for her project to breed a genetically diverse range of queen bees. Her passion comes from her concern about Australia's biosecurity, declining bee numbers across the world, with disease, insecticides and pesticides among likely causes.  In the 12 years since that first hive for her suburban backyard, Claire and her partner Paul had three kids, moved to the Macedon Ranges and traded the hatchback for a tractor. Claire has continued to study and keep bees; a fascination that began as a child. That passion might just be genetic. It was Claire’s four-year-old son who set up an egg enterprise that kick-started the family’s mixed business, The Good Life Farm Company. The business now produces eggs and honey from sustainable practices. Australia is one of

Harry is the founder & director of Australia’s leading dedicated Search Engine Optimization (SEO) agency, StudioHawk located in Melbourne and a board member of the Australia Web Industry Association, which provides guidelines for the web industry. His company has always delivered responsive, ethical, and authentic SEO services & was founded on those principles. His interest in the industry began when a disreputable SEO agency had destroyed his father’s boat licensing business.

Bridget is the Co-Founder and CEO at Expert360 and is a passionate leader on a mission to create simple technology products that change our working lives for the better. Bridget worked for Bain & Co in Sydney before the founding of Expert360 in 2013, at age 25, with a mission to create the technology platform that would allow companies to power agile, project-based workforces. Today, Expert360 is APAC’s leading marketplace and management platform powering the freelance economy. She is passionate about the future of work, in particular using the power of technology to increase work participation and more broadly tackle inequality through more and more accessible work opportunities. She has won numerous accolades such as Forbes 30 Under 30, Top 100 Women of Influence in Australia, FutureMakers list of Australia’s top 25 Emerging Entrepreneurs under 25, Shoestring’s Top 50 Australian female entrepreneurs under 40.  She shares insights from her TedX talk ‘Are jobs dead?’ &am

Gavin was the former Group Head for Personal banking at NAB before leading the Federal Government’s Digital Transformation Agency. He was appointed the CEO of Nimble last year (that pioneered 60mins finance in Australia) and set a new strategy for the business where it will exit payday lending and focus on becoming a full service, and branchless, digital bank. He believes they have the team, technology, brand and strategy to take on the banks and other providers and make it a reality.

Kirstin is the Managing Director at Future Super where she is leading the movement to use the power of money to invest, advocate and campaign for a future worth retiring into. Kirstin began her career as a Solicitor at Freehills before moving to Bain & Company where she specialised in financial services strategy, working for clients in banking, insurance and wealth management in Australia and Canada. She has done pro-bono work for non-profits and founded Aussie Babywearers for Refugees.

Justin was co-founder of Exari, a legal tech startup that was founded in Melbourne almost 20 years ago. Exari was recently acquired by Coupa a fast growing NASDAQ listed company in what they believe is the largest legal tech acquisition ever done by an Australian founded company at $215m USD. Coupa is in the business spend management space which fits neatly with the contractual insight that Exari brings. Justin discusses the acquisition story from the inside & how they weighed up the pros & cons of likely suitors, considering large strategic PE firms or a smaller strategic (like Coupa). 'I think we're very lucky it was Coupa' Justin's Key business points: Persistence and grit are imperative  Embrace failure Grow through investment and acquisition rather than organically and include employees 

Thomas is a future food specialist & international speaker who has been recognised as one of Australia’s most accomplished young pioneers. He has driven initiatives in conservation, climate education & poverty alleviation across five continents. Realising the impacts of industrial animal agriculture & limitations of the current food system to sustainably feed everyone, he founded Food Frontier, Australia’s independent think tank & industry accelerator for plant-based and cell-based meat. Australia’s plant-based meat sector is on the cusp of massive expansion, set to contribute up to $3 billion to the nation’s economy and generate thousands of full-time Australian jobs by 2030, according to world-first economic modelling called Meat The Alternative: Australia’s $3 Billion Opportunity. It is the first analysis of its kind globally that quantifies the current and potential size of a plant-based meat sector and its impact on a national economy – Australia’

In 2015, Olivia Carr, award-winning businesswoman and mother-of-two, couldn’t find high quality, stylish silk pillowcases online or in stores, no matter how hard she looked. Knowing the extensive hair and skin benefits of silk, and sensing a gap in the market, Olivia did what any smart entrepreneur would do; she fixed her dilemma by creating luxury silk company, ShhhSilk. Olivia counts social responsibility at the core of the ShhhSilk business. She discusses her business journey & shares some insights into her successful start-up story & the digital retail strategies that have worked for her brand.