Program - Keynote Address: Lessons from the Coal Face of Business

Keynote Address: Lessons from the Coal Face of Business

Thursday, March 27, 2025

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

Details

Lessons from the Coal Face of Business provides insights and lessons from Glen Richards' business career, emphasizing resilience, innovation, ethical practices, and the importance of having a vision. • Importance of Resilience: Success in business requires resilience, tenacity, and a willingness to keep going despite challenges, which Glen Richards refers to as "entrepreneurial mongrel". • Learning from Early Experiences: Richards' upbringing on a sheep and cattle station taught him valuable life skills and resilience, which were crucial in his business journey. • Transition from Veterinary Science: Richards transitioned from veterinary science to business after recognizing the high burnout rates in the veterinary profession and seeing an opportunity to improve the industry. • Development of Greencross: Richards' business plan for Greencross evolved during a trip on the Trans-Siberian Express, leading to the creation of a network of veterinary hospitals and pet stores across Australia. • Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Richards emphasizes the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in overcoming industry roadblocks and creating successful businesses. • Ethical Business Practices: Maintaining ethical standards and focusing on customer trust are crucial for long-term business success, as demonstrated by Richards' approach in his veterinary practice. • Importance of Vision: Having a long-term vision and regularly resetting goals are essential for business growth and success. • Focus on People: Building a strong team and fostering a collaborative environment are vital for the success of fast-growing companies. • Patience and Strong Foundations: Founders need to be patient and invest in building strong foundations for sustainable growth. • Passion for Purpose: Passion for the purpose and effective communication of that purpose are key to inspiring teams and achieving business success.

Speaker

Dr Glen Richards

Managing Director

The Richards Group

Lessons from the Coal Face of Business

Biography

Glen is the founding Managing Director of Greencross and was a co-founder and Director of Mammoth Pet Holdings Pty Ltd (Petbarn) before it merged with Greencross. Growing up on a grazing property near Richmond NW Qld is where Glen’s love and passion for animals began. His parents owned a number of properties and farmed sheep and cattle. At 27, Glen bought a small vet practice in Townsville and within 10 short years, had developed five vet clinics and a large format pet store in Townsville as well as two veterinary hospitals in China. From there, he went on to build a multi-million dollar integrated pet care empire, which now operates more than 160 veterinary hospitals in Australia and New Zealand. Greencross is also Australasia’s leading specialty pet care retailer, with more than 230 stores operating under the brand names Petbarn and City Farmers in Australia and Animates in New Zealand. The company employs over 5500 employees including veterinarians, nurses, retail team members and managers. Since moving from an executive role, Glen spends his time as a professional investor, mentor, and director with a number of companies. Glen is currently Chairman of Healthia Pty Ltd and People Infrastructure. As well as being on the board of ASX listed companies Greencross, People Infrastructure and Regeneus his favourite area of interest is helping to scale up health and allied health companies. He is actively involved with Montserrat Day Hospitals, SmartClinics medical centres, and Clinician Connect. Glen continues to help foster early stage businesses including his Shark Tank investments through active mentoring, investing and strategic planning sessions. He regularly does public appearances and speaking engagements in the business community to share his scaling up story and his V4P message (Vision, Planning, People, Patience, Passion).