Interview: The CEO aiming to bring Rugby back

Rugby union in Australia has been in decline in recent years, with financial woes and dwindling broadcast audiences putting a dent the sport’s reputation.

And while it may be turning a corner, it might still be a bold decision for a business to go all-in on the code - becoming the naming rights sponsor for the Super Rugby Pacific Men’s and Women’s Competitions.

Vincent Nair is the Executive Chairman & CEO of Smartech Business Systems. He joins Sean Aylmer in the studio to discuss why the company has invested significantly to try and bring Rugby back.

Find out more: https://fearandgreed.com.au

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business Interview. I'm suan Aylmer.
Depending on who you ask. Rugby Union in Australia has
been in decline since the two thousand and three World Cup.
Financial ways and dwindling broadcast audiences have dented the sports
reputation and while it may have turned a corner, it
might still be a bold decision for a business to
go all in on the code becoming the naming right

(00:27):
sponsor for the Super Rugby Pacific Men's and Women's competitions.
And it's even more unusual when the business is B
to B rather than B to C. Vincent Nair is
the executive director and CEO of Smart Tech Business Systems.
He joins me in the studio, Vincent, Welcome to Fear
and Greed.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Hey Shah, good to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Okay, smart Tech, tell me about what is it? First?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
We are a child partner. One of the biggest sin
is you Pacific. We represent very large manufacturers and with
service over ten thousand B to B customers in Australia
from Parcelaka Technology either word to being the largest print
technology distributor in Australia and Asia Pacific.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
Okay, So print technology distributor. Just explain what that means.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
So we're eachbe's largest mid range large format printer solutions
provider to B to B customers that those guys in
EACHB have. So if you want to buy a four
hundred thousand dollars solution, you go to EAHB. They'll say,
talk to smart Tech. They are the experts in installation
in terms of sales and service and all that.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Okay, great. As a B to B company, you have
gone it all in on sponsoring rugby. Why did you
choose a sport like rugby?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
So it's a global game. It manifestures with us really well,
we're a global company, and we feel that there is
an opportunity with the British lines coming through once in
twelve years, the British.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Country, So those who aren't rugby fans the British lines.
So it's England, Scotland, Wales and Island, which is quite
unusual in rugby that those four get to. So they're
touring Australia as of about now.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, And so I looked at the opportunity that it
presented itself. And I'm always off the view that if
things are bad, you can only go north from there,
and you're quite a way shot. I mean, Rugby Australia
has had its moments some years back, but it is

(02:23):
now on the organization led by Dan he Buddhist chair
new Board Field Wall as the CEO, and I feel
that these guys made a lot of sense when I
was talking to them about the future and their vision,
and it kind of resonated well with me. So I
liked it with the product of, you know, the British
lines coming through, and they've got some good test matches

(02:46):
and the most important test message that I think is
going to be very good for me is the one
against Fiji on July sixth. A little bit of personal
bias there, but I like what they think in and
where they've come from, and I think so far our
experience has been great with them.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
So when you mean off air, I mentioned my boys
play rugby, my daughter plays AFL. I grew up soccer
in a rugby league town, right, so I've kind of
got the whole gamut. Is there something about rugby that
you think, I mean, apart from the fact that it's
value when you got in was relatively low, is there
something about rugby that you like over the others.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, definitely. I mean rugby is such an elegant game.
If you think about it, it's a there's a paradox here.
It's physical, it is associated with gentlemen playing rugby, rich history,
and I think if you look at it as a
comparison to other sport, it is truly global. It's pleading

(03:47):
countries that basically you're born in rugby and you get
out and you basically either as spray to play for
your country or whatever else. Now, I don't think that
sort of nurturing occurs in soccer. Okay, as an example
from my personal experience, you get lost in the crowd.

(04:08):
But a rugby you've got to focus the structure in
the teams, in the schools that you grew up with,
and I think there's a bit of prey there. There's
a little bit different to NURL.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
I think stay with me. Vincent will be back in
a minute. My guest this morning is Vincent Nair from
Smart Tech Business Systems. I know we've had the break.
We're talking about why rugby your B to B? Is

(04:38):
that normal for a B to B to take such
a big sponsorship of a major sport.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
It is normal, So you have this situation where we're
in the business of people as well. And when you
look at our clients, whether they're Deutche Bank, whether they're
Standing to Charter, we deal with people on the other shade.
So the concept of B to B and B two
C is clearly about people as well. So it's kind

(05:07):
of nice to have our clients and our partners in
business kind of get to see something that they don't
necessarily get an opportunity to see, and that is the
smart tech Super Rugby competition right up front. Get to
meet the players, get to actually feel and see what
the dressing rooms are like, and talk to the coaches

(05:28):
and all that stuff. So I think from that perspective,
it's an experience that our customers and our business partners
enjoy clearly, So there's a lot of return in that
for ourselves. It could be the same with B two C.
I think it gets a little bit diluted if you
kind of try and apply that to a B two

(05:48):
C situation. You may have thousands of customers, but which
one do you actually bring in to do and experience
all those things. Yeah, so I think there's an advantage.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
For us in the B to B space I also
read some of utah met fatigue around stadiums clutted with
logos in sponsorships. Now I suppose that's the benefit of
rugby to some extent, but even Rugby has a bunch
of sponsors as well. Had you cut through that.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
That's why we became the naming rate sponsor. We thought, well,
if we had invest we just get the major sponsorship
with these guys. It cost us a bit of money.
Good investment, good returns. Everything in our business is about
business kissing and also community improvement and contributional We saw
that there were returns everywhere for this, and in the

(06:34):
last two and half three months with the Rugby Australia
and the Super Rugby competition, I think we've seen a
lot of intangibles coming through and greed experiences for our
businesses and our business clients.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
Apart from the fact that the Brumbies didn't win.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
My team disappointing read disappointing. Now you know the Wartas
actually first four or five games they were undefeated.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
That probably the most disappointing team.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
Look, well I've got you to talk about leadership. You
spent more than thirty years working in Fortune one hundred,
Fortune five hundred and ASEX companies and global roles. You've
been publicly awarded for your work as a CEO. You've
spoken about rugby and steading values, discipline, respect, community. Are
there parallels, I suppose between that rugby world and good CEOs?

Speaker 2 (07:20):
Absolutely? I think so. I find that you got two
types of CEOs. One that has started their careers from
the bottom of their food chain and they work themselves
to the top, granted away, and then there's others that
have been handed the opportunity on a silver plea. There's

(07:41):
nothing wrong with either one of those. But I think
folks like myself have worked ourselves to the top. We
find that there is another set of values. We appreciate
the people that are coming through the ranks, and we
understand people, and we are always in a base where
we want to make sure that there are others in

(08:03):
a similar pathway as we have come through. So we
won the Employer of Choice and twenty three in twenty
twenty four. And how folks, our employees got us there.
It wasn't our strategy or anything like that. They said,
you know, we have one of the best places to
work in the world. So we kind of like that,

(08:24):
and it's all about just listening and supporting them and
going home with them when they clock off at five
or six o'clock in the afternoon, and being there for
them on the weekends as well. So we're not there
just as an employer and they're not just doing a job,
but they're with us because they want to be with us.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
What makes the smart take Then we're.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
In an acquisition growth mode right now, in the middle
of an acquisition. Our intention is to definitely double our
footprint in Australia and New Zealand. We're not done yet.
We are on a growth trajectory. We've had a very
very significant drive that has created over ten thousand B

(09:09):
to P. Customers will be satisfied if we become a
three to four million dollar company in Australia alone, so
we are aiming to do that in the next three years.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
Good luck with it. Vincent, thank you for talking to
Fear and Greed.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Thank you very much.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
That's Vincent Nair, executive chair and CEO of Smart Tech
Business Systems. This is the Fear and Greed Business Interview.
Join us every morning for the full episode of Fear
and Greed Business News. You can use. I'm sure I
all money. Enjoy your day,