Our special guest on this episode is rich-lister Andrew Abercrombie - Chair & Founding Director of Humm Group and revered businessman, investor and philanthropist.
Born in Sydney in 1957, Andrew re-located to Melbourne at an early age and before long, his entrepreneurial qualities were on display, establishing five paper rounds as a teenager before turning his hand to trading motorbikes, cars and eventually residential real estate.
Following graduation from Scotch College, Andrew’s initial interest was in the field of medicine before a fortuitous change in circumstances coupled with his prior exposure to business led to him enrolling in an economics degree at LaTrobe University, graduating in 1976 before continuing his educational pursuits via a Master of Law degree at Monash University (1980).
Andrew then completed his articles at Garrick Grey & Co specialising in tax-planning and property trusts, ultimately establishing the foundations upon which he launched, alongside several others, his own legal firm in 1982 that focused on taxation, film-finance deals & the representation of clients across the entertainment industry including Cold Chisel and INXS.
Despite the early success the firm had over the course of the mid-1980’s, Andrew’s waning interest in the law culminated in a desire to explore other career options, and at age 30, he enrolled and was ultimately accepted into the ultra-competitive MBA course offered by IWD Switzerland, graduating in 1988.
After a brief stint in New York and in the shadows of a deteriorating global economic environment, Andrew returned to Australia and by 1990, identified opportunities to unlock value in companies that were either facing bankruptcy or were in liquidation.
One of those opportunities was a small leasing business that through a successful turnaround strategy implemented by Andrew during the course of the nineties and early two-thousands, grew to become listed on the stock exchange by 2006 and is now known as FlexiGroup.
Our exclusive feature interview with Andrew charts his journey across both his business and personal life, unpacking the key deals and lessons that have inspired his success.
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