Bosco Connect general manager Bryan Dobson has shown excellent leadership during a period of rapid growth for the company. Bryan, 39 and with only eight years in the industry, has shown he can be an inspirational and creative leader, yet still achieve solid financial results and market share growth, the company says.
Bosco Connect Ltd, a subsidiary of Mighty River Power, is a profitable stand-alone business with its own unique culture. When taking up his current role, Bryan's vision was to keep Bosco's entrepreneurial approach and build on the backing of its parent company while avoiding process burden that may compromise its agility. With that he wanted to target a number of limited, small-scale segments where the company could use an innovative business model to thrive.
In the period under review, creative management has seen Bosco Connect increase its share of the Auckland CBD apartment market to 60 per cent. This market is traditionally a tough segment, with high customer churn and significantly lower power consumption than an average household. But using an innovative approach, Bryan and his team have managed to make it profitable by bringing operating costs by ICP below the industry average.
Most significantly for the company, Bryan's vision included the launching of Tiny Mighty Power in four provincial regions, which had previously only had the choice of larger, entrenched retailers and were less exposed to active competition.
Brand growth
Since its launch in November 2009, the brand has amassed more than 8,000 customers and is realising high levels of customer satisfaction and retention by providing a decentralised business model. This model gives a local presence through five retail offices that offer unique opportunities for customer engagement.
A bespoke telephone system directs a customer's call to the Bosco Connect or Tiny Mighty Power office they are closest to geographically, meaning they will likely speak to someone with local knowledge. Self meter-reading helps contain costs in remote rural areas, while real-time, automated credit checking speeds recruitment.
Bryan's successful management of the business is evidenced by the customer growth achieved in the year to March 31. The Bosco Connect group achieved customer growth of 56 per cent - including an impressive 379 per cent from new-comer Tiny Mighty Power and 17 per cent from Bosco's apartment brand.
Bosco Connect has also shown strong financial gains with an increase in revenue of over 93 per cent in the same period, and a sharp jump in earnings.
A key driver of Bryan's success has been his ability to gain the trust of Mighty River executives and the Bosco board, to whom he had to sell his vision for a segmented retail market in order to get the go ahead.
He leads by example and keeps excellent relationships with senior management and all staff employed across the two brands. Staff have broadly defined roles and are encouraged to participate and be innovative and are rewarded for showing initiative. Workforce retention is high as a result.
In 2011 the Young Energy Executive of the Year category was sponsored by Minter Ellison Rudd Watts.