Cathie Reid grew up in Morwell, a rural town in the Latrobe Valley, Victoria, Australia. She graduated with a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Monash University's Victorian College of Pharmacy in 1991.
Initially, Cathie Reid was only taking a professional typing class. A fateful encounter with Chris Kelly - the owner of the pharmacy where Cathie Reid worked after school, changed her life. Without consulting her parents and Cathie Reid herself, Chris Kelly changed Cathie Reid's major from typing to pharmacy.
“It seemed like it would never happen. Imagine someone calling your school and moving you from one class to another. My parents had no idea. They were just as surprised as I was when I got home from school,” said Cathie Reid. That moment set Cathie Reid on the path to becoming an entrepreneur.
None of this would have happened if Cathie Reid hadn't studied pharmacy. After Cathie Reid's first marriage fell apart, she signed up to attend a pharmaceutical conference in Fiji instead of sitting around brooding.
There, she met other startup participants and started networking with them. Cathie Reid decided to quit her full-time job to start her startup pharmacy.
Cathie Reid met Stuart Giles at a friend's birthday party in Melbourne. They married soon after and became partners in business and life.
Together with Stuart Giles, Cathie Reid developed the 28-store Epic Pharmacy chain, which they later sold for about $37 million to a business partner before founding Icon Group, a chain of cancer care centers, in 2011.
In 2021, global investment firm EQT reached an agreement to buy a 5% stake in Icon Group for an estimated $115 million.
Cathie Reid and her husband have invested in a range of businesses, from modular construction to technology, healthcare and lifestyle companies, and have built a fortune worth $550 million.
Always be ready for the unexpected on your business journey.
Cathie Reid faced many challenges. At Easter 2007, the company's largest customer left. This meant 60% of revenue was gone. They quickly embarked on a business plan to expand into new growth areas, resulting in new businesses being created.
Cathie Reid says a valuable lesson from her cancer care business is that "like life, business doesn't always go according to plan."
“No one wakes up knowing they’re going to be diagnosed with cancer. It can strike at any time. So we’re always mindful of our potential escape routes before they start or even start. Make sure you’re really prepared to be able to face any event that may come,” Cathie Reid shared.
Cathie Reid was named one of the Australian Financial Review's Top 100 Women of Influence in 2013 and was inducted into the Australian Business Women's Hall of Fame in 2015.
(According to Theaustralian)
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