Kye Macdonald

Age:

Kye Macdonald founded Skye Recruitment with his wife, Sophie, in 2006 and found success by focusing on recruitment for the civil construction, building, engineering and oil and gas markets.

Having no idea how to run a business, and headquartered at home, Macdonald had to learn on the go. The business suffered some setbacks at first, such as having to restructure the entire company after receiving some bad advice from an accountant, but eventually gained the upper hand and made $1 million within a year.

Macdonald says one of the hardest aspects of being a young entrepreneur in Australia is that you are constantly underestimated, which has "major implications" when dealing with financial institutions. But he says this results in competitors often giving away information they wouldn't necessarily reveal.

He says Skye Recruitment, which is on track to make $2.4 million during the current financial year, will continue to grow due to a high emphasis on internal software development, technology and a business ethic focusing on taking risks.

"The fear of failure prevents many people from taking the necessary steps to start or grow their businesses. Particularly for young entrepreneurs, time is on your side to both learn and recover from any mistakes that you may make."