Fresh challenges await Stephen Moir after a decade at the SBDC.
STEPHEN Moir will tell you that the passion for small business still runs through his Scottish-Methodist blood.
Although his December 23 resignation as managing director of the state government’s Small Business Development Corporation came as a surprise to many in the small business sector, Mr Moir insists that his decision was not based on frustration or dissatisfaction.
And as the father of two will protest, having worked under two different governments during his tenure at the corporation, “you can’t afford to be frustrated with government, with either party, when you get a change of government you get a change of opportunity”.
Mr Moir, it seems, is a man of opportunity.
After 10 years at SBDC, three of which were at the helm, Mr Moir believes it’s time for new challenges.
This week he told WA Business News that he has found such an opportunity with the Motor Trade Association of Western Australia.
He takes the reins from Peter Fitzpatrick at MTA on February 1, marking the end of another era, with Mr Fitzpatrick’s resignation coming after 11 years in charge.
“My reason for resigning was I saw a new opportunity,” Mr Moir says.
“I had been offered an opportunity to go and work in an organisation which I have had a high level of regard and respect for, for a number if years.
“The MTA has been one of those leading industry organisations, and when you get that opportunity to go in and lead that organisation it’s not something you take a lot of time to think about.
“The position was advertised in the media, I applied and was successful.”
The move is the latest in a series of changes to WA’s public sector with former Health Department boss Peter Flett resigning in December, Tourism WA chief executive Richard Muirhead recently resigning, and Premier Colin Barnett announcing new roles for his current chief of staff Deidre Willmott and the head of the government media office, Paul Plowman.
While there appears to be a changing of the guard in the state’s public sector in recent times, Mr Moir says the MTA offers him fresh challenges, although he concedes he had not achieved all he set out to at SBDC.
“But I would hope that if it’s five or 10 years down the track at the MTA I still wouldn’t have achieved everything that I would have wanted to achieve, because I think that if you tick all the boxes, you probably haven’t tried hard enough ... there is always something more you can do,” he says.
“In relation to the SBDC, I would have liked to have seen more done.
“There’s many things with ongoing projects that I would have liked to have seen completed, but equally there’s a great deal of excitement about the new opportunity and new avenues that can be done with the MTA.
“I was still very much challenged here [SBDC], my move wasn’t because of boredom, frustration or anything else, it’s clearly a basis of a new opportunity that has come along.
“These opportunities don’t raise themselves on a regular basis; Peter Fitzpatrick has been in that role for 11 years.
“So, you’ve got to look at that and when the opportunity comes, you have to make a decision and make it quickly. I have been fortunate enough to have been selected for that role.”
Mr Moir says he would still be head of the SBDC if the MTA position had not presented itself.
Graduating from Balcatta Senior High School in 1976, Mr Moir landed a cadetship at retail giant Myer soon after, where he worked for five years.
Over that time he moved through the ranks to become assistant sales manager, later taking on the role of buyer and expediter.
When the opportunity came up he then moved to the then Department of Tourism, working briefly in Sydney and then later back in Perth, taking on a marketing role.
The avid sailor and member of the Nedlands Yacht Club then worked in human resource management for the Public Service Board, which led to other HR positions working in the Department of Commerce and Trade, as well as the Office of Workplace Agreements.
It was during his time at the Office of Workplace Agreements that Mr Moir began working with business, and the appeal of the small business sector grew on him.
“My time at SBDC has been challenging and rewarding. Challenging because when you follow a long-term CEO like I did in following George Etrelezis you’ve got to make some clear decisions as to where you’re going to go,” he says.
“You can continue to follow the same stream or you can set your own path and I’m a firm believer in respectfully setting your own path.
“But you could not do this job properly unless you are absolutely passionate about small business.
“One of the things I’m very pleased about moving on to this new role is that the majority of the membership of the Motor Trade Association is small business, so there is a continuum there for me.
“I’m absolutely passionate and dedicated to developing small business, so with whatever role I go to in the future, that will be a core focus.
“I can tell you now, absolutely, that I leave this job at SBDC, with as much if not more passion than when I first started it, because it’s the sort of job that gets into your blood,” he says.
“And I’ve done it for 10 years, and I’ve been working with small business for 10 years, so this is something I am very, very passionate about.”
Do you have a mentor? Do you have a mentor?
I have a few. One is John Garland, ex-chairman of the board at SBDC, and I have a couple of CEOs in the past that I have used as role models; not necessarily as mentors, people like Noel Simmons.
Biggest achievement?
The last three years at the SBDC would be my biggest achievement in terms of getting a number of significant projects under way that I had been seeking for a number of years, most notably Aboriginal business, engagement with the tourism industry, the BizFit program, and our migration program.
What's your business mantra?
Work hard, try harder.
If you were premier, what would you change?
Retail trading hours (laughs). No, I would love to see a 10- to 15-year vision for Western Australia.
How do you deal with conflict?
Carefully and decisively.
Influence of family on your career?
Very, very strong. Scottish Methodist. The Scottish Methodist thing there is about work ethic, hard work and total dedication to what you are doing. That's very much something I got from my father, who was a principal.
