Saturday 12/9/2009 Page: 52
THOSE who despair of ever building a career can take heart from Adrian Ferraretto, who couldn't find a full time job for four years after he left university in 1995. Armed with a degree in mechanical engineering, he eventually gained full-time work in the solar energy sector in 1999. It led to him buying a tiny solar business in 2001 and building it into Solar Shop Australia, now a national powerhouse and the largest solar electricity panel retailer in Australia.Mr Ferraretto mortgaged his house to buy the business at a time when his wife wasn't working and he had an 18-month-old child. "It seemed like a crazy thing to do at the time," he recalls. "There is no better incentive to work as hard as you can than having the family home on the line."
Starting with just himself, an electrician and a part-time bookkeeper, the business earned a small income in its first year under his ownership. Six years later, he owns one of the fastest-growing companies in Australia. The St Peters-based Solar Shop Australia turned over $75 million in 2008-09 and is expected to reach $120 million this year. The rags-to-riches business grew from a home-based operation in its first year to a $6 million turnover in 2006-7 and $25 million the next year.
The business installed one in four solar systems in Australia in 2008 and employs 150 people full-time and another 50 contractors. With domestic power bills expected to double in the next five years, Mr Ferraretto believes the company will continue expanding rapidly for the foreseeable future. His confidence is based on the fact that home owners can install a solar system and cut their power bills to nil in a deal that pays for the system in 10 years. "With one of our systems, you have free power for the rest of your life," Mr Ferraretto said.
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