Just over a year ago Jackson Meyer was spruiking a new freight forwarding company model built on upgrading “dated” procedures and branding while cutting third-parties out of the photo.
The budding entrepreneur declared his service Verus Global would be able to reach turnover of $12 million in the very first year of operation. Understandably, lots of were sceptical.
“I approached a series of financiers and buddies within the [Young Presidents’ Organisation] network, and a great deal of them clearly said ‘no’ to a 22-year-old at the time,” Meyer tells Organisation News Australia.
“And then lastly I got one that took a punt, and the feedback from the others was ‘$10 million in the very first year? You’re dreaming’, which is probably reasonable enough.”
The male who took a bet on Meyer was Dr Andrew Walker, a serial entrepreneur who had formerly founded the likes of Aspen Medical (ASX: APZ) and Matrix Healthcare, which was sold to a divison of Sonic Healthcare (ASX: SHL).
Walker is the chairman of Verus Global, and has been mentoring and directing Meyer through a whirlwind 12 months with the company, establishing offices in Australia, China, Hong Kong and the UK because it was released on 17 January 2019.
Meyer brought across numerous previous associates from his previous company Transtar International Freight – one of Australia’s largest freight forwarders – and he is thankful they put their faith in his ideas.
“I have actually got no doubt in my mind that we have the greatest team in the industry,” says Meyer, who in 2015 won the and the.
The design boils down to higher digital integration, improved branding and developing a worldwide network so there are less touch points and no third-party hands on clients’ freight.
“Don’t get me incorrect – we do have huge overheads with having 15 workplaces and 53 staff throughout the world,” he says, including there will likely be new openings in the Philippines and Vietnam in February.
“However we have actually had the ability to interrupt an industry through developing a modern-day freight forwarding service from literally no dollars in revenue to $24 million AUD in less than 12 months.”
He notes having overseas workplaces gives Verus Global an advantage in a saturated market, however it’s also the easy things that are helping business get ahead.
“We’re finding niches in the market. The market that we remain in is not pretty, it’s not visually pleasing, there’s absolutely nothing exciting about it – it’s moving stuff from A to B,” he states.
“What we’re trying to do is alter the experience; we’re breaking away from standard out-of-date and old forwarding organisations and bringing a modern-day edge to it.
“We’re making use of communication channels that haven’t been used prior to, especially in this market. The decision-makers now are in their 30s – these individuals want to interact on text, Whatsapp or WeChat. They ‘d rather get something done quick.”
He says 2019 was about setting up a “launchpad” for Verus Global, and this year the approach will be to expand the business’s offering.
“We will be a $40 million organisation by the end of 2020, easy,” states Meyer
“We have to be really conscious of business we employ, especially in the retail area – it’s everything about picking your customers, ensuring they are a partner for long-lasting success.
“We’re paying for companies to incorporate with us digitally between our BIP platform and their ERP; we’re doing that currently with an organisation that’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange – Acco Brands, Australia’s biggest stationery importer.”
The young entrepreneur stresses that despite the quick development, it has really occurred “with the brakes on” and might be faster still.
“Being able to get included with banks, the scale that it might grow and it will grow is actually interesting moving forward,” he states.
“We see our business being a provider and company of option that is releasing market leading IT for transparency and real visibility of customers’ transactions and this, combined with our own cargo managing facilities will bring us to a target of $150 million in five years.”
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