Business leaders gathered at the Australian Arab Business Council’s Behind the Business event at La Castelle in Bankstown on Wednesday night, featuring a collection of special guests sharing their insights and stories on resilience and innovation, including Charbel Tadros from Oz Arab Media, Abbas Chatrifirouzeh from Greenticko and Harry Hamrang from Australian Insurance Specialist Pty Ltd Trading as Cover Au.

Charbel Tadros:

Tadros, Media Manager at Oz Arab Media and President of the Australian International Multicultural Association and Lions Club of Canterbury Bankstown, kicked off the event by giving some detailed insights and vision.

Tadros highlighted arriving in Australia in late 2017 and being surprised by the vast amounts of cultural diversity in Australia, and observing the lack of cultural integration between communities in Australia. He spoke about meeting his business partner, Director of Oz Arab Media Remy Wehbe, on having a vision of getting people to learn from each other, leading to the founding of Oz Arab Media, which started as an online news platform and is still evolving with a TV channel in development.

Tadros further emphasised the business growth of Oz Arab Media and pointed out that it was when Oz Arab Media began doing live broadcasts and interviews that marked a turning point in the media company’s journey. He also reflected on the pivotal moments of Oz Arab Media, including covering Narendra Modi’s visit to Sydney, starting to conduct live interviews at the AABC events and opening the Oz Arab Media podcast studios at their Milpera-based office.

Tadros said the company thrives on advertising and told the attendees the many ways that they can be featured on Oz Arab Media through collaboration and advertising, and spoke about meeting clients and assisting with creating marketing plans.

Abbas Chatrifirouzeh:

Mechanical engineer Abbas Chatrifirouzeh and founder of Greentiko, also shared his story and vision of always wanting to start his own business, immigrating to Australia in 2017 a similar time to when Tadros did.

Chatrifirouzeh emphasised that the first year of arriving was a nightmare for him, but later worked as an ESD consultant. Just like many people, the COVID pandemic caused him to lose his job due to the market becoming too quiet, causing him to start his own business and not work for someone else. He further expressed that he is good at analysing data and told the audience that he has done more than 7000 assessments in Australia, highlighting his immense level of experience and knowledge.

Harry Hamrang:

The theme of resilience and determination continued with the last guest speaker for the night, Harry Hamrang, a licensed general and commercial insurance broker at Australian Insurance Specialist Pty Ltd, Trading as Cover Au. Hamrang has three decades of experience and helps small to large enterprises across Australia. He began his remarks by taking attendees on a trip through memory lane to 1990, when he was a student in high school, and a fire broke out in his neighbour’s house, and the whole house burnt down.

Hamrang mentioned a moment that inspired him, when they asked if they had any insurance cover, and they didn’t have which sparked Hamrang to develop an interest in understanding what insurance is and how to manage risk, leading him to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in insurance and later an MBA. The insurance broker also highlighted how he has an interest in actuarial science, underwriting and a long career as an underwriter and an actual claim handler and also as a loss adjuster.

He emphasised that selling is not his strength, but helping others is part of his identity and earns his income by helping others and highlighted that his ultimate goal is client satisfaction.

“I have a passion just helping people. Selling is not my strength, but I’m good at helping people, through the help, I’m getting my referrals. So happy to help anyone who have a question about the insurance,” Hamrang highlighted.

Hamrang said that his business is expanding through knowledge and the market. His clients are not just Sydney-based, he has clients from North Queensland, south to Tasmania and west in WA.

The night wrapped up with dinner, fresh fruit and coffee and an opportunity for business leaders to engage in meaningful dialogue and network amongst each other.