Today you have various businesses in
Australia, Dubai, UK, and the Balkans
how did you become entrepreneur and what set the process in motion
I've always been fascinated with the movement of goods
and services around the world, I remember
as far back as being in high school
watching trucks carrying containers
boxes that came in from overseas
wondering what was in those boxes and
how did they get here and likewise you
would read about Australian products
being exported and that fascinated me I
thought well there's something really
interesting in this you know things
coming from the other side of the world
and arriving on your table as foodstuffs
or building materials to build homes
with etc that came from Europe or the
United States cars that arrived from
Germany and all of that kind of movement
of goods and services really interested
me so that was my first you know
awakening if you like
when it was?
when I was in high school I must have been
about 14 or 15 years old and I started
to notice these things and became
interested
what was it your first business?
I was determined to do a number
of things I was determined to make the
whole world my backyard to trade
internationally and I badly needed a
sports car so they were my motivation to
become successful
One of your companies an Airways Aviation   is a key player in a global market for
educating pilots, how did you find this
market niche?
yeah well I have a background in all kinds of businesses one of those businesses that I dedicated
considerable time to was in in digital
media creative media I was fortunate
enough to be able to help build a very
large digital media business which we
sold back in 2011 and having understood
or having an understanding of the
international education market and then
coupling that with some aviation
experience because I'm a helicopter
pilot I learned to fly helicopters many
years ago I've had exposure to aviation
since I was in my early sorry early to
mid teens and so it was coupling those
two things together I saw an opportunity
in aviation to really go to the next
level identifying an international brand
and really taking the education from
vocational to a higher education type
standard
what helped you to develop
this company into the increasingly high
player in the market
well we're relatively new player in the
market image in terms of aviation
education we have a pilot training
business and we launched this business
strategically the most businesses are
grown organically but this one I was
very very specific in terms of what I
wanted to accomplish in what kind of
timeframe etc and so I launched this
this aviation business in a in a way and
in a model under structure that would
see it develop very very rapidly so it
was originally forming a strategic
international brand one that would be
accepted by the international mark
place and through acquisitions building
building the business to a to a point
and then growing it from that particular
point
so you started from Australia
right?
yeah the first acquisitions I made were
in Australia and then we moved abroad to
make some further acquisitions
What principles,
what personal principles do you bring to
business?
oh you know I think nothing
succeeds without being tenacious
consistent persistent and really sort of
following your vision and for me I like
to kind of follow my passion things that
I'm passionate about I don't really work
on anything that I don't have a feeling
for so I have a sense feeling aliking
a specific passion and all these things
that I do I actually have a passion for
and on that basis it's easy to pursue an
easy to keep interested long-term now
Nowadays many companies say that they have a
mission what mission does Rhianna group
have?
well my mission is that you know
fortunately I'm in a position where I
really don't need anything you know I've
been able to accomplish you know pretty
much all the the creature comforts that
that people need and I've always liked
to strike a balance with things in my
life I often say to my friends you know
how much lobster can you eat because in
the end you know we only need so much
you know if you look at this you know
philosophically speaking we only occupy
a square foot of real estate in the
world at any given time until you're
dead and then you occupy about 6 square
feet of real estate as you go into the
ground and then disappear but so for me
it's about balance and knowing when
enough is enough so philosophically
speaking you know I believe that you
have to plow back you know you need you
struggle in your toil to get to a
certain point in your being in your
business career in your career and then
at a certain point
you really kind of have enough that you
can provide for yourself provide for
your family do those things that you
need to do support yourself and then
it's about giving back to the to the
world if you can you do that
progressively even in a small way as you
go but at a certain point I think we
mature to a certain level of success and
if you have that success and yet success
you have that comfort then I think with
that also comes a responsibility to give
something back
Montenegro is quite a
small country in comparison to other
locations were your own businesses why
you invested here?
yeah now I look at the
the world kind of you know on a macro
and a micro level and I've been watching
the progress of Montenegro for some
years I came here many many years ago as
a teenager as I was backpacking and
driving travelling around Europe and I
was immediately attracted to the area
all those years ago but as the former
Yugoslavia which was in those days there
was nothing that a foreigner you know a
young kid from Australia could could
actually do here but I've been watching
the progress of the country over the
years and kind of waiting for the right
time to move you know we sit here in
Montenegro in the middle of kind of 500
million of the world's wealthiest people
the people that live within a
thousand-mile radius of here have the
highest standard of living in the world
and what I mean by that is that you can
turn a tap on and get relatively clean
or totally clean water you have
flushable toilets you know you have
healthcare within reasonable reach
emergency services within reasonable
reach you know social security type
arrangements you know within reasonable
access to most people if you look across
the world I mean most people in the
world don't have these fundamental
basics so you know here we are in a in
an emerging country and emerging economy
that is you know kind of beckoning you
know it's a region that's on the
up-and-up
it's it's in the middle of Europe
everyone is working towards the same
kind of European standards they're all
they're clearly mapped out whether it be
building roads or healthcare or
education systems so this is a region
that has a lot of room to grow it's a
small country
you know nestled between a number of
other quite significant countries it's
kind of you can be a kind of a big fish
in a small pond in a place like this
it's easy to maneuver into and do things
there are challenges of course but
generally on balance it's quite an easy
place to do business to establish
oneself and to do business and it's
those and many other things apart in as
well as that the the natural beauty and
the the willingness and the openness of
the country to attract foreign investors
like myself that became attractive to me
let's speak a little bit more about
entrepreneurship now Ferdinand Porsche said
that if one doesn't fail at times he
hasn't changed himself do you think that
business people shall learn from their
own mistakes or from other people's
mistakes?
It's a combination of
everything Sergey you firstly you get
knocked down you get up again you know
you don't stay down just get up
it's you've got to be persistent and you
have to be consistent in your belief you
know if you really believe it you need
to be persistent and consistent with it
and so it's you know that tenacious
nough said you know they say the world
is full of educated derelicts and a
lot of educated people that you know
aren't that successful and you know for
varying reasons I think a big part of
that reason it's not lack of
intelligence or or desire but lack of
that determination you know to get
knocked down and get up again again
down it's kind of the boxes you know
adage you know you don't just lay on the
floor what the first punch you take you
know you're going to get a lot of
punches in it in the in the the the the
rounds of a boxing match but in terms of
learning from your own mistakes of
course you've got to learn from your own
mistakes you've got to take stock of
what you got wrong I mean that's how you
progress and also recognize that you
know is that mistake as a result of
something you did a miscalculation or an
error on your part is it something
externally or is it a combination of
both
you know Confucius the ancient Chinese
philosopher said the first step to
solving a problem is to first admit you
have won a lot of people don't even
admit that they have a problem and so
they'll never go very far in terms of
fixing that problem so yeah it's a
combination of that but you know also
you know I remember you know my father
used to say to me you know in an early
age you know learn from other people's
mistakes
don't burn your hand on the fire watch
other people if you see them making
mistake especially if they get hurt
don't make that same mistake you don't
need the experience having your hand
burned on a fire to know that it's not
good for you you've seen someone else do
it you've seen the consequences learn
from that so it's a combination of
things really it is common for business
people to have a mentor that helps them
to achieve their goals do you see any
downsides in that for young
entrepreneurs no I think it's absolutely
essential to have a mentor I certainly
had a mentor my mentor who's a long time
passed away now there's a follow by the
name of Kevin Kirby who was one of
Australia's most renowned industrialists
and he was you know a wonderful man but
they're very very disciplined a nice man
but very very disciplined and taught me
many many things one of them you know
listening and keeping my ears and eyes
open as opposed to talking he always
used to say you know when you you
talk you're only repeating something
you've already heard but if you listen
you might learn something new so shut up
and listen which one of the well-known
entrepreneurs nowadays you can name that
you admire I think there's a number of
people that you know I mean I think
Steve Jobs was brilliant and people
won't call him an entrepreneur but he
really was who you know had this vision
technical vision that did that he saw
through he utilized other people to do
the technical work but he had the vision
and the ideas you know there are there
are many you know MA Branson I mean
these are these are all wonderful
wonderful entrepreneurs wonderful
visionaries and and have that ability to
look outside of the square and really
see and smell opportunity yeah I think
it is about balance balance is actually
the key word here because at every
juncture you need to kind of take stock
of where you are it's very easy to lose
yourself and you're using an aviation
sort of aviation terminology or working
you know working through it in that kind
of way to consider things you know
you've got to understand where you sit
in time and space you know you're
sitting in the three-dimensional world
up there and you know measuring where
you are how fast you're going how high
off the ground you are you know
situational awareness what's happening
around you are all important things and
as part of that is you know you're
trying to work out how you sit what's
your state of mind like are you
physically or mentally exhausted are you
able to carry the level of burden that
you're you're carrying without sort of
damaging yourself and of course there
are times where you lose focus and you
know you chasing
or a particular business interest and so
you're going for it hard and you don't
really think too much about yourself
until one day you find yourself just
collapsing and exhaustion the hotel room
thinking I can't do this anymore it's
just you know I'm exhausted so it is
about balance and taking stock as you go
of how where you sit in time and space
and how it's impacting or impinging on
your physical and mental self so for me
I've always been pretty good at you know
striking that work-life balance and um
having those experiences and little mini
breaks as I go along
it isn't just all about you know work
work work work work although a lot of
the time especially in the beginning it
had to be but finding that balance and
taking that time off and being conscious
of where you sit what your metal and
your physical health is actually like
are you deeply exhausted or you're you
know you're able to cope with it and
keep going there are 70 goals that
United Nations has to transform the
world by 2030 and you're the founding
member of the global sustainability
Network which pursued the goal number
eight from this list which aims to
promote sustainable economic growth full
and productive employment and decent
work for what is all about and what is
your personal mission in this that comes
back to one of the first questions you
ask and that is plowing something back
the United Nations all of the countries
in the world have endorsed the 17
sustainable development goals for 2030
and they're in each of these goals you
know there are crossovers and
complementary elements but they are all
working towards making the world a
better place
goal weight specifically has a number of
a number of sub categories that that
focus on 8.7 for example which is one
that a lot of people are interested in
you know around human trafficking and
modern day slavery and you know the
abuse of children you know as as as
workers and factories or even sex
workers sex slaves
you know it's estimated in places like
India you know six million kids are sold
into sex slavery every year so this is
totally unacceptable and and the the
feeling is that any one of us that has
the resources of the means or can make
time should apply themselves to one of
these 17 categories of sustainable goals
and help solve the problem so in
conjunction with firms from close
associates and friends I became one of
the founding members of the global
sustainability network which was founded
a few years ago back in 2014 there was a
joint declaration signed by the Pope and
many faith leaders in particular
pursuing in particular goal eight point
seven and you know we took on this
challenge to pull together a group of
people from around the world various
leaders from media from government from
from business from education you know
and the like to see how we could pull
our spectrum of influence and resources
to helping you accomplish these goals
and diminish this burden the scourge of
you know things like modern-day slavery
although there are many other many other
categories
you have invested in musical projects so
you have recording studio back in
Australia and you also had fine music
what role does music play in your life
I've divested from all of my music
business industries but I became
involved in the music area if you like
and music and film type production due
to well actually started beforehand but
you know became more involved due to my
role with the SAE Institute this
business that I was involved with some
years ago and the music has played an
important role in my life and you know
it is of course important role many
people's lives but I think it's it's not
something that you want to get totally
self-absorbed with you know most people
looking to make a career out of music
who've attempted to make a career out of
music will find it's a very hard road
and the same kind of December's the film
industry so I kind of think it's
something that sort of kind of exists or
should exist on the periphery it becomes
one of those 100% of things that you do
or that make up your life I kind of
think for most people music should make
up you know a couple of percent maybe 5%
maybe 10% if they're really good of
their life and they should focus on a
whole bunch of other things to health
their education in other areas there's
just a sustainability you know
supporting their families you know
except at home food on the table shelter
you know all that kind of stuff but I
think what happens is people kind of
find it as an easy vocation to lose
themselves in and kind of make excuses
for themselves you know buy so I'm a
musician I'm pursuing my musical talents
and that's what I want to be sure you
may be very very talented that the world
is full of very very talented people
just go to Hollywood to go to London the
streets are awash with talented people
that really don't see the full benefit
of
mercial the commercial town that we see
some get you know I think it's important
to keep in perspective that very very
very few as a percentage succeed at the
very top level and so that's fine it's a
fantastic thing a fantastic hobby and I
play the banjo for God's sake and it's
sort of a very mediocre guitarist and
you know I love music play music
everywhere in my flat home car and
whatever I'm doing but again it's about
perspective and about you know work-life
balance I think everyone needs to work
out what music actually means so I
became involved in these recording
studios it was a strategic acquisition
that that had made Studios 301 which was
in Australia we had two studios in
Australia one in cloned in Germany and
one in Stockholm in Sweden in fact the
old Abba studios became our 301 studios
and then I was also the founder of Fame
music which is an online online portal
to support emerging artists which still
exists and still operating but I
divested myself of those interests you
know a couple of years ago now and have
focused on the aviation and real estate
and other other sectors other investment
sectors in do you prefer books or
podcasts I prefer you know I used to
read copious amounts of material and I
still read a lot of unfortunately there
have been more some business oriented
papers and publications and the like but
I prefer podcasts for the ease you know
I'm I'm addicted to YouTube I love
YouTube and I watch all manner of things
watching the TED Talks at one of my
favorite things on on YouTube there's a
lot of inspirational people out there
that you can learn from but with
podcasts and the like and I like the
idea of you know being able to put
something on in the car during that
down-down time of driving or traveling
etc and just educating myself can you
suggest maybe three books or three
podcasts or
three YouTube channels two young
entrepreneurs to to follow with yeah it
might surprise you that the the things
that I would recommend don't directly
relate to business they they are more
about self-improvement positioning one's
self in terms of the world in terms of
how they should view the world
Eckhart Tolle a cap Toller as a book
called the power now that that you know
had the big impact on me you know when I
when I first read it and first heard it
I'd heard it on a podcast as well very
very in the very very early days I think
it was norman vincent peale who's a
reverend in new york one of the in the
united states and he wrote a book called
the power of positive thinking and you
know i read that many many years ago and
had a really big impact on me because i
believe in positive visualization i
believe in visualizing you know the
outcome and you know keeping the
expectations realistic and then moving
towards that outcome and so that was
another book in a memory that you know
played an important role and in terms of
starting to twig my thinking
was there any philosophy that you live
by
there are a number of things that that I
live by I guess you know if you're
looking at it in terms of priorities you
know one is you you don't let the
behavior of others have an effect on
your inner peace
you don't let other people make their
problems your problem and I think also
that you know you've got to recognize
that if you're on the wrong train every
station you come to is the wrong station
and know when to get off the train and
board the right train in life but then
also it's important to consistently plow
something back as you go this is not
just about taking it's about giving okay
I see in one word what is your life as
an entrepreneur look like in one word I
think it's hard to define in one word
but I think philosophically I try and
seek peace in everything that I did so I
need to be peaceful with it I need to be
peaceful with the people the situation I
need to be at peace as three questions
what quality do we'll use the most in
people and in employees and is it the
same quality work ethic you know
believing in the principles of you know
fair and and and equitable behavior you
know taking a moral stance in terms of
the way that you conduct yourself with
your business you know I don't believe
in micromanaging employees I believe
that everyone should have it within them
to do the right thing if they're being
engaged for tasks or purpose then I
believe without being watched
they will fulfill those responsibilities
without without being watched so there's
got to be some honor if you like in that
in that process when last did you do
something which you never done before
lasted something I've never done before
hard to say because I'm doing lots of
lots of different things yeah I hadn't
been diving for a long time I went
diving in Sardinia about a week ago
which is really nice I hadn't dived
since I was in Thailand about five years
earlier I think so that was that was
something really very very nice and last
question what is your motto my motto
yeah I think that it's not one thing
it's many many things it's kind of a lot
of the lot of the the things that we
talked about there are there are two
pieces of literature that kind of sum up
the way that I view the world one is a
Peace Corps with desert errata
and the other one is a piece called if
so if you have time look them up thank
you very much yep welcome thank you
