Moving Forward Newsletter

It gives us great pleasure to introduce 2new Melbourne coaches and 1 Perth coach, with a brief blurb about each coach.

Barry brings a wealth of sales, retail, management and training experience to his coaching practice. Capitalising on 15 years of hands on experience in wholesale fashion, supermarkets and department stores, Barry shifted his career focus by gaining qualifications in Small Business Management, Workplace Assessment and Workplace Training.

Barry has been working as a trainer now for over 14 years. His experience includes freelance and contract work in areas as diverse as retail, hospitality, administration and call centres.

Developing training material and assessment tools are part of Barry’s passion for education, as is his work as a lecturer at various TAFEs and training institutions.

Career highlights for Barry include: the design and authorship of 11 training manuals, and having a diverse client base that ranges from small to medium business ventures through to corporate bodies such as Optus, Shell and Coles-Myer.

Barry has a strong track record in winning business and retaining clients. He is especially inspired by motivating businesses and their staff to monitor and improve performances and create systems for success.

Melissa has a background in business management consulting to both the private and public sector. With a double degree in Business/Psychology and a Masters of Business (Human Resource Management) from the University of Melbourne, Melissa’s expertise in this field has a strong foundation.

In addition to her work as a consultant, Melissa has spent the last three years owning and operating a franchise business. This has enhanced her understanding of the demands and rewards involved with being a small business owner. Strategic management and human capital are two areas of key interest for Melissa, as she understands how essential they are to obtaining a strategic and sustainable competitive advantage.

Melissa has achieved great professional acknowledgement, including: winning the Municipality Franchise of the Year Award 2007, and being nominated for Best Small Business (Retail), Best Franchise (Local Store Marketing), and Business of the Year.

Melissa believes a great business owner is someone who is adept at communicating and influencing others, takes control over their situational needs, and is willing to push the boundaries beyond their comfort zone to rise to the many business challenges presented.

Melissa’s motto: When you have some guidance, work hard and with intensity, the impossible is always possible.

George Zeidan (based in Perth)

George has a diverse background that covers industrial, commercial and service industries. Coming from a family business background and having been exposed to manufacturing from the age to 12, after his father’s death, has provided him with strong understanding of industrial businesses, supply chain management, marketing, distribution, export and import, package designing and printing. His knowledge in imports, exports, supply chain and account management, marketing and distribution is a very strong attribute that he enjoys.

Further, he finished his bachelors degree in Electronics & Electrical Engineering from King’s College University of London and his Masters of Science in Communications and Signal Processing from Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine University of London. He then joined Nortel Networks in Harlow, United Kingdom, where he was a development engineer from fully programmable gate arrays, designing the interface chip of the Sonet and DX3 systems.

George left Nortel Networks and acquired an American Internet Service Provider (Quik Internet) franchise that he established in Jordan. Competing in a small competitive market of 4.5 million population, only 200’000 internet users and 30 internet service providers, he managed to build the business to become the 4^th major player in the market within 1 year of operation.

Perth is George’s home now, where he brought his vast experience in business and endorsed it with an MBA from Curtin University. Starting his life in Australia George has consulted to many businesses and developed their markets.

George’s motto: “You are not here to test the waters, you were created to make waves.” Unknown Author.