In this episode of Build It, They'll Come, host Helen Dalley sits down with artist, sculptor, and gallerist Christopher Hodges, founder of Utopia Art Sydney.

Hodges shares the story of opening his gallery in 1988 with a vision to showcase contemporary Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists side by side on an equal footing. He reflects on his pivotal role in introducing Central Australian desert art, including Papunya Tula and the Utopia community, to major east coast collectors and global institutions like the Tate.

He discusses his deep professional collaboration with the legendary Emily Kame Kngwarreye and the importance of ethical gallery practices, Hodges offers a candid look at the passion, persistence, and business savvy required to shape Australian art history. 

In this episode of Build It, They'll Come, host Helen Dalley sits down with artist, sculptor, and gallerist Christopher Hodges, founder of Utopia Art Sydney.
Hodges shares the story of opening his gallery in 1988 with a vision to showcase contemporary Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists side by side on an equal footing. He reflects on his pivotal role in introducing Central Australian desert art, including Papunya Tula and the Utopia community, to major east coast collectors and global institutions like the Tate.
He discusses his deep professional collaboration with the legendary Emily Kame Kngwarreye and the importance of ethical gallery practices, Hodges offers a candid look at the passion, persistence, and business savvy required to shape Australian art history.&nbsp;

How Christopher Hodges Put Contemporary Indigenous Art on the Map

Over many decades, Moree NSW-based farmer Dick Estens built not just one, but two formidable agribusiness empires. Starting out with just $200,000 in net assets, Dick leased land, share farmed and then managed to scale up a massive cotton farming operation.  

Then when many might think about retiring, at age 59, Dick took on a monumental challenge and pivoted into the citrus industry, buying into a struggling Brisbane-based brand—Grove Juice— before he had even planted a single orange tree. When much of Australia’s citrus sector was in dire trouble, Dick Estens persevered and built a vertically integrated business model that controls every facet from orchard development to supermarket shelves.

Grove Juice now produces 40 million litres of orange, apple and even mandarin juice a year, employing around 250 people.

In this episode, Dick reflects on exactly what’s required to navigate long investment cycles, severe droughts, complex risk management and his core philosophy of empowering people.

Over many decades, Moree NSW-based farmer Dick Estens built not just one, but two formidable agribusiness empires. Starting out with just $200,000 in net assets, Dick leased land, share farmed and then managed to scale up a massive cotton farming operation. &nbsp;
Then when many might think about retiring, at age 59, Dick took on a monumental challenge and pivoted into the citrus industry, buying into a struggling Brisbane-based brand&mdash;Grove Juice&mdash; before he had even planted a single orange tree. When much of Australia&rsquo;s citrus sector was in dire trouble, Dick Estens persevered and built a vertically integrated business model that controls every facet from orchard development to supermarket shelves.
Grove Juice now produces 40 million litres of orange, apple and even mandarin juice a year, employing around 250 people.
In this episode, Dick reflects on exactly what&rsquo;s required to navigate long investment cycles, severe droughts, complex risk management and his core philosophy of empowering people.

Grove Juice –  empire-building farmer Dick Estens thrives on challenges, buying a struggling orange juice brand at the age of 59, as the Aussie citrus sector was in its death throes

Gabrielle Requena, the founder of Wrinkles Schminkles, shares her entrepreneurial journey, detailing how she built a successful skincare brand from a simple idea. Starting with a Bachelor and Master of E-commerce, Gabrielle gained valuable experience at Deloitte Consulting and eBay, which laid the groundwork for her future venture.

Frustrated by the lack of effective solutions for chest wrinkles caused by side sleeping, Gabrielle developed 100% medical-grade silicone patches. These patches work by compressing the skin and stimulating blood flow and collagen, offering both instantaneous and cumulative results.

Initially a side project, Wrinkles Schminkles grew into a global business with nearly $20 million in annual revenue, primarily through direct-to-consumer e-commerce in Australia, the US, and the UK. Gabrielle discusses the challenges and triumphs of scaling the business, including navigating the competitive beauty market.

Gabrielle Requena, the founder of Wrinkles Schminkles, shares her entrepreneurial journey, detailing how she&nbsp;built a successful skincare brand from a simple idea. Starting with a Bachelor and Master of E-commerce,&nbsp;Gabrielle gained valuable experience at Deloitte Consulting and eBay, which laid the groundwork for her future&nbsp;venture.
Frustrated by the lack of effective solutions for chest wrinkles caused by side sleeping, Gabrielle developed&nbsp;100% medical-grade silicone patches. These patches work by compressing the skin and stimulating blood flow&nbsp;and collagen, offering both instantaneous and cumulative results.
Initially a side project, Wrinkles Schminkles grew into a global business with nearly $20 million in annual&nbsp;revenue, primarily through direct-to-consumer e-commerce in Australia, the US, and the UK. Gabrielle&nbsp;discusses the challenges and triumphs of scaling the business, including navigating the competitive beauty&nbsp;market.

Wrinkles Schminkles: Gabrielle Requena's journey from a side-hustle idea to a multi-million dollar exit

When uni student Annabelle Chauncy volunteered in Uganda, in her words, she was blown away by the poverty and the lack of resources, including education, in much of rural Uganda. So she not only had a dream to try and change that, but she acted on it.  

At 22 years of age, Annabelle set about building a small primary school for the most disadvantaged kids in a village. But first she had to raise the funds, work out how to buy some land, how to go about building a physical structure and then of course how to staff and run a school, in a community where virtually no-one spoke English. A feat that would surely be daunting for most of us. But now 15 years after her first school opened, this accidental entrepreneur has achieved enormous success with School for Life Foundation… it has educated now thousands of children across several schools and even a boarding school, with a cohort of 40 now studying at university, and School for Life employs 250 Ugandan staff. Annabelle Chauncy is a life-changing and inspiring leader.

When uni student Annabelle Chauncy volunteered in Uganda, in her words, she was blown away by the poverty and the lack of resources, including education, in much of rural Uganda. So she not only had a dream to try and change that, but she acted on it.&nbsp; At 22 years of age, Annabelle set about building a small primary school for the most disadvantaged kids in a village. But first she had to raise the funds, work out how to buy some land, how to go about building a physical structure and then of course how to staff and run a school, in a community where virtually no-one spoke English. A feat that would surely be daunting for most of us. But now 15 years after her first school opened, this accidental entrepreneur has achieved enormous success with School for Life Foundation&hellip; it has educated now thousands of children across several schools and even a boarding school, with a cohort of 40 now studying at university, and School for Life employs 250 Ugandan staff. Annabelle Chauncy is a life-changing and inspiring leader.

School for Life  –  Annabelle Chauncy changing lives by building schools providing quality education in Uganda, to help “educate poverty out of existence” 

 In this episode of Build It They'll Come. host Helen Dalley sits down with David Paradice AO, the founder and driving force behind Paradice Investment Management.

Starting 26 years ago with just a single client and $30 million under management, Paradice has built a boutique investing powerhouse that now manages and invests around $20 billion for major super funds, large institutions, and retail investors.

Paradice describes his deeply focused approach to stock picking, emphasising the importance of fundamental investing and maintaining face-to-face relationships with company management. He opens up about the immense pressure and sleepless nights that come with managing retirement savings, how he navigates volatile markets, and his core business philosophy: consistency over time equals returns.

Paradice discusses his passion for polo, his dedicated philanthropic work, and how a champion team will always outperform a team of champions. He even shares the unexpected business and life lessons hidden inside a favourite children’s book series kept at his office reception (listen to the end to learn which one!)

It is a candid look at the human touch behind a genuine home-grown Australian financial empire.

&nbsp;In this episode of&nbsp;Build It They'll Come.&nbsp;host Helen Dalley sits down with David Paradice AO, the founder and driving force behind Paradice Investment Management.
Starting 26 years ago with just a single client and $30 million under management, Paradice has built a boutique investing powerhouse that now manages and invests around $20 billion for major super funds, large institutions, and retail investors.
Paradice describes his deeply focused approach to stock picking, emphasising the importance of fundamental investing and maintaining face-to-face relationships with company management. He opens up about the immense pressure and sleepless nights that come with managing retirement savings, how he navigates volatile markets, and his core business philosophy: consistency over time equals returns.
Paradice discusses his passion for polo, his dedicated philanthropic work, and how a champion team will always outperform a team of champions. He even shares the unexpected business and life lessons hidden inside a favourite children&rsquo;s book series kept at his office reception&nbsp;(listen to the end to learn which one!)
It is a candid look at the human touch behind a genuine home-grown Australian financial empire.

David Paradice AO on Trust, Teamwork,  expert Stock Picking and Managing Millions of Your Retirement Dollars

When he took over the family wine business in 1994 at the tender age of 33, Darren De Bortoli continued a legacy his father Deen had built on that was De Bortoli Wines, centred around the vineyard his grandfather planted in the NSW Riverina.

Darren was a young superstar, having created as a newly qualified winemaker in 1982, the acclaimed Noble One Botrytis Semillon – to this day a globally renowned, medal-winning sticky wine, and a wine that quickly catapulted De Bortoli Wines into massive growth.

The company moved into other wine districts like the Yarra Valley, King Valley and more recently Rutherglen in Victoria, and also the Hunter Valley. Under Darren’s leadership they pioneered environmentally sustainable winemaking practices and today they grow wheat, barley and oat crops using eco-friendly waste water from the wineries.

Today De Bortoli Wines is the 6th largest wine company in Australia by revenue, yet still Australian and family owned and run. But as he reflects on the great legacy he’s helped build, Darren De Bortoli is candid about the considerable challenges he and others face: namely water access and climate change, a global wine glut and a downturn in wine consumption.  Hope you enjoy Darren De Bortoli.

When he took over the family wine business in 1994 at the tender age of 33, Darren De Bortoli continued a legacy his father Deen had built on that was De Bortoli Wines, centred around the vineyard his grandfather planted in the NSW Riverina.
Darren was a young superstar, having created as a newly qualified winemaker in 1982, the acclaimed Noble One Botrytis Semillon &ndash; to this day a globally renowned, medal-winning sticky wine, and a wine that quickly catapulted De Bortoli Wines into massive growth.
The company moved into other wine districts like the Yarra Valley, King Valley and more recently Rutherglen in Victoria, and also the Hunter Valley. Under Darren&rsquo;s leadership they pioneered environmentally sustainable winemaking practices and today they grow wheat, barley and oat crops using eco-friendly waste water from the wineries.
Today De Bortoli Wines is the 6th&nbsp;largest wine company in Australia by revenue, yet still Australian and family owned and run. But as he reflects on the great legacy he&rsquo;s helped build, Darren De Bortoli is candid about the considerable challenges he and others face: namely water access and climate change, a global wine glut and a downturn in wine consumption.&nbsp; Hope you enjoy Darren De Bortoli.

De Bortoli Wines - Darren De Bortoli on heritage, hustle and helping build an iconic wine empire (while navigating challenges of a global wine glut, declines in wine consumption and even water shortages)

After years as an art critic writing about art, art consultant Michael Reid decided to take the plunge into the business side of the market and become a gallerist. He had his university degrees, but Michael Reid knew his strongest foundation actually came from his time spent honing expertise and his business sense inside Christie’s, the massive global art world juggernaut. Based in London, Michael discovered that exposure to art and auctions and the business of art on the international stage was the best qualification he could possibly have.

This self described boy from country NSW, who describes himself as super ambitious, who is building and growing his “world” as he calls it,  who has built physical galleries, online platforms, food destinations, a current pop-up gallery in Los Angeles with plans for a permanent exhibition space there, who loves to drop names and sells to some of the finest collectors in Australia, operates his global business from his quiet, peaceful home in a tiny town, yes … back in country NSW. And he’s not finished yet.

After years as an art critic&nbsp;writing&nbsp;about art, art consultant Michael Reid decided to take the plunge into the business side of the market and become a gallerist. He had his university degrees, but Michael Reid knew his strongest foundation actually came from his time spent honing expertise and his business sense inside Christie&rsquo;s, the massive global art world juggernaut. Based in London, Michael discovered that exposure to art and auctions and the&nbsp;business of art on the international stage was the best qualification he could possibly have.
This self described boy from country NSW, who describes himself as super ambitious, who is building and growing his &ldquo;world&rdquo; as he calls it,&nbsp; who has built physical galleries, online platforms, food destinations, a current pop-up gallery in Los Angeles with plans for a permanent exhibition space there, who loves to drop names and sells to some of the finest collectors in Australia, operates his global business from his quiet, peaceful home in a tiny town, yes &hellip; back in country NSW. And he&rsquo;s not finished yet.

Michael Reid Galleries – Michael Reid building a global art business “ecosystem”  – from Sydney to Berlin, the NSW Southern Highlands to Los Angeles, while bootstrapping his scaleup and gathering people along the way

David Tudehope left the finance world in the early 1990’s with a dream to service small to medium business who complained of poor service and overcharging by the monopolist at the time, Telstra.  Tudehope wasn’t a digital expert nor a highly trained computer engineer. But he understood numbers, and that customers wanted good service, not delays and obfuscation. So he had his brother Aidan started a small business they called Macquarie Telecom, back in 1992, with only the savings the pair could scrounge up, and forged headlong into the ultimately capital-intensive telco space. This is long before the internet and smart mobile phones. But they took on the slow-to-change Telstra and stuck to their mission of offering better customer service and cheaper prices to the business customer.  In just over 3 decades they’ve built (now named) Macquarie Technology Group into one of the Top 300 listed companies in Australia, with a market capitalisation of over $1.5 billon, offering major clients like the ATO, Officeworks and PayPal still telecom, but now cloud-based, cyber security services as well as massive investments in data centres to support the boom in AI.  David appeared on the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List 2024 alongside brother Aidan with an estimated net worth of over $900 million.

David Tudehope left the finance world in the early 1990&rsquo;s with a dream to service small to medium business who complained of poor service and overcharging by the monopolist at the time, Telstra.&nbsp; Tudehope wasn&rsquo;t a digital expert nor a highly trained computer engineer. But he understood numbers, and that customers wanted good service, not delays and obfuscation. So he had his brother Aidan started a small business they called Macquarie Telecom, back in 1992, with only the savings the pair could scrounge up, and forged headlong into the ultimately capital-intensive telco space. This is long before the internet and smart mobile phones. But they took on the slow-to-change Telstra and stuck to their mission of offering better customer service and cheaper prices to the business customer.&nbsp; In just over 3 decades they&rsquo;ve built (now named) Macquarie Technology Group into one of the Top 300 listed companies in Australia, with a market capitalisation of over $1.5 billon, offering major clients like the ATO, Officeworks and PayPal still telecom, but now cloud-based, cyber security services as well as massive investments in data centres to support the boom in AI.&nbsp; David appeared on the&nbsp;Australian Financial Review&rsquo;s&nbsp;Rich List 2024 alongside brother Aidan with an estimated net worth of over $900 million.

Macquarie Technology Group -  David Tudehope disrupts telco giant Telstra, building a phone, internet, cyber security, data centres and AI group to support business, now worth over $1.5 billion

Since Dr Sarah Crowe had her lightbulb idea, and invented her completely mobile, vision testing and glasses kit, then ran a trial in remote Papua New Guinea and started to show  the impact her OOXii Vision Kit could have, to medical professionals in India and Vanuatu, she was inundated with positive reaction. Here was a complete system not only offering mobile eye testing, but also durable glasses frames, with prescription lenses in them, were then dispensed on the spot to people in remote or under-served communities, thereby improving their vision right there and then, in their home communities. It was life-changing.  A fantastic entrepreneurial idea to fix a massive global problem.

But Sarah’s journey with OOXii Global and her mission to help fix the world’s vision has not been without its challenges and significant hurdles along the way.

Listen to Dr Sarah Crowe take up the story.

Since Dr Sarah Crowe had her lightbulb idea, and invented her completely mobile, vision testing and glasses kit, then ran a trial in remote Papua New Guinea and started to show&nbsp; the impact her OOXii Vision Kit could have, to medical professionals in India and Vanuatu, she was inundated with positive reaction. Here was a complete system not only offering mobile eye testing, but also durable glasses frames, with prescription lenses in them, were then dispensed on the spot to people in remote or under-served communities, thereby improving their vision right there and then, in their home communities. It was life-changing.&nbsp; A fantastic entrepreneurial idea to fix a massive global problem.
But Sarah&rsquo;s journey with OOXii Global and her mission to help fix the world&rsquo;s vision has not been without its challenges and significant hurdles along the way.
Listen to Dr Sarah Crowe take up the story.

OOXii Global – Dr Sarah Crowe helps more people see, with her mobile OOXii Vision Kit getting low cost, durable, prescription eye glasses to the millions who need better vision but cannot access eye glasses

While navigating Australia’s mental health system to deal with his personal assessment and ongoing care, entrepreneur Zac Altman felt frustrated and thought, quite simply, there must be a better way to help the huge number of adults with ADHD get the proper care and support they need. To help solve what he saw as a very large unmet demand problem, Zac created and built the start-up Kantoko, a telehealth service offering online assessments and ongoing care for adults with ADHD, but using an unusual business model – subscription services. Kantoko has been operational since early 2024, with patients accessing Kantoko’s team of experienced ADHD psychiatrists and GPs focusing on mental health.

While navigating Australia&rsquo;s mental health system to deal with his personal assessment and ongoing care, entrepreneur&nbsp;Zac&nbsp;Altman&nbsp;felt frustrated and thought, quite simply, there must be a better way to help the huge number of adults with ADHD get the proper care and support they need. To help solve what he saw as a very large unmet demand problem,&nbsp;Zac&nbsp;created and built the start-up Kantoko, a telehealth service offering online assessments and ongoing care for adults with ADHD, but using an unusual business model &ndash; subscription services. Kantoko has been operational since early 2024, with patients accessing Kantoko&rsquo;s team of experienced ADHD psychiatrists and GPs focusing on mental health.

Kantoko – Zac Altman 2.0 innovating with an ADHD telehealth service, offering professional diagnosis and care for adults, via a subscription model

Candid interviews with successful Self-starters. On Build It. They'll Come, you'll hear from some amazing Australian entrepreneurs who bet big to build great businesses. Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise. 

This podcast is about the human face behind taking a simple idea and turning it into a business or movement. It's the beating heart behind what it takes to build an empire, from concept to execution, and how they actually achieve it. Fuelled by blind faith and hard slog, how they transform their dream idea into concrete reality.

Journalist Helen Dalley interviews business innovators and visionaries on how they turned their lightbulb idea into a viable, sustainable enterprise.

Build It. They'll Come.

Social links:

Follow the podcast:

136 clip(s)