Smart50 rank: 16
Revenue: $12,220,321
Growth: 87.09%
Founders: Marcus Sellen, 33
Head Office: Victoria
Employees: 82
Industry: Education
Website: www.selmar.edu.au
SELMAR began as a business to provide training to call centre staff, but founder Marcus Sellen spotted a bigger opportunity when a former employer went broke – a training facility for teaching English as a second language.
Now the facility turns over $12 million, has a national presence and employs more than 80 staff.
It has accredited courses in a number of industries including hospitality, aged care and retail, with clients including Nando’s, KFC and McDonald’s.
The company has suffered, especially through the GFC and Sellen had trouble obtaining funding when getting started, but says he learnt a valuable lesson.
“Being a new business with no existing clients to mention or back me I learnt that building relationships and proving myself was crucial,” Sellen says.
“Cash flow is the life and blood of the business, keeping cash flowing in is crucial to keeping a business solvent.
“I also believe that researching new customers to ensure they have a good financial standing and have the ability to pay on time is a great lesson I have learnt. Sometimes new business is not always good.”
Selmar is facing competition, resulting in bigger fights over funding and a desperate need to differentiate.
“The industry is also becoming a lot more heavily regulated, which has initiated us to recruit another member in our quality and compliance team,” Sellen says.
He says innovation is critical, with staff regularly getting together to brainstorm new opportunities and to study client feedback to ensure that customer satisfaction level is high.
“We also have a brainstorm box based in the office, which allows all employees to put forward their own ideas and thoughts,” Sellen says.
“This has previously given us some great ideas which have been followed through and have achieved great outcomes.”
