By Scott Hannaford – Business Reporter
For a man who has millions of dollars invested in high-risk ventures and uncertain overseas markets that may never return a cent, John Hindmarsh comes across as surprisingly relaxed.
Managing Director and found of the Hindmarsh development, management and property group, he has enjoyed his share of success after starting, like so many other Canberra business success stories, operating on his own in a spare bedroom. He has also made his willingness to be bold and take an untested path a key strategy to that success.
Having taken a few gambles in the past and won, he refuses to get comfortable and stick to a sure thing, constantly pushing the boundaries of his company’s investments – a strategy that continues to serve the company well.
Hindmarsh surprised many in his early days when he made the leap into the US, buying into a failing condominium development, which he managed to turn around at a time when no one expected to see a minnow from Canberra making such a bold move. While that experience helped act as a springboard to other ventures, Hindmarsh says the highly litigious culture that has developed in the US in recent years makes it unlikely he will go back into that market.
He was also one of the first to put his hand up when the ACT Government went looking for partners to finance high-risk venture capital-hungry start-up businesses out of ACT institutions such as the CSIRO and the Australian National University.
And while developments in Canberra and South Australia have vindicated his decision to keep the business firmly planted in the ACT, Hindmarsh is again out on his own, this time making forays into the burgeoning markets of China.
While many ACT businesses are actively talking about venturing into China, Hindmarsh is already there, and has bold ambitions to have about 400,000 private car-parking spaces under its management within five years. It’s a strategy Hindmarsh admits will see his company continue to pour in money for several years yet, but he is confident it will be a winner.
Since starting his business in 1979, Hindmarsh has become a staunch advocate of Canberra, and says the difficulty in attracting new business and more residents to make it their home is a matter of perception.
“We’ve never found it a disadvantage working from Canberra. In fact, when we go to China it’s actually working in our favour because the Chinese place a lot of value on it as the seat of government. We can certainly do more to capitalise on that.”
After surviving the downturns of the 1990s, Hindmarsh has, like many others, prospered from the good times of the last 10 years, which has seen his business grow to a point where revenue sits around $200 million a year, with offices and associated businesses operating around the country and overseas.
And while business continues to boom, he worries there may be a few dark clouds on the horizon for the national capital.
“The fact that the population is not moving much is of great concern. We’ve been recruiting contractors from outside the ACT because of the skills shortage...and the affordability of the city is also becoming a serious issue for a lot of people.”
Dealing with those shortages was a matter of promoting Canberra in other parts of the country, something not helped by the conflict arising between the ACT Government and the Commonwealth.