Innovation a key to success, says entrepreneur Matt

Entrepreneur of the Year Matt Ryan said he had no secret recipe for success - but spotting opportunities has been a key factor.

Mr Ryan is CEO of three Clontarf companies and was named the region’s top entrepreneur at last year’s Moreton Bay Business Excellence & Innovation Awards.

Nominations for this year’s awards open on May 16. Scroll down for details.

It followed 15 years of hard work, development and expansion by the former Humpybong State School and Redcliffe State High School student.

He took over CareTech, which designs and manufactures nurse call solutions, in 2004, from his father Bob, who launched the business in 1999.

Mr Ryan converted a reseller, turning over around $500,000, into a wholeseller, which last year had a turnover of more than $3 million.

Part of that success has been spotting new opportunities during development.

“The middleware started as a need and ability to report,” Mr Ryan said, “but once we had created that, we found it gave us other ideas.

“Another gain, was setting up the model so anything could be added in and shared. Clients then only have to pay a small fee.

“To date that has grown to 500 sites across 30-40 clients. Smaller clients love it. Larger clients think it is good value for money.”

Mr Ryan, who grew up and went to school in Redcliffe, is also CEO of LAS (Local Alarm Solutions), a middleware software developer and RTM Cloud, a monitor of electronic assets.

He developed the nurse call product range and used his IT knowledge for the software component which led to LAS being born in 2012.

In 2015 Bupa became a customer for all 72 of its sites in a $1.2 million project over two years.

Four years later, a new start-up RTM Cloud was launched and last year LAS had a $1.6 million turnover, 10 times its 2012 figure.

Mr Ryan is now looking at trade shows in the US to showcase his products.

The Moreton Bay Business and Innovation Awards are returning in 2022, with an earlier start date and additional categories for businesses and individuals to celebrate their achievements.

The awards are free to enter. Nominations open on May 16 at 9am and close July 17 at 11.59pm.

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