Retired industrialist Richard Izard is putting his spare time to good use mentoring entrepreneurs about exporting.
He says it’s mainly word-of-mouth referrals, rather than any formal mentoring arrangement.
“They go talk to the old fellow because he may know a thing or two about it [exporting],” he says.
The 84-year-old pioneered the local manufacture of tungsten carbide-tipped saw-blades for the US market in the 1980s, employing more than 100 people in three Northland saw-blade factories and exporting 80% of production.
He eventually sold the Wellsford-based business, Izard Irwin, to US interests in the early 1990s for an undisclosed sum. Izard’s turbulent entrepreneurial journey has been the subject of a book, Stress and Enterprise, and he’s also been nominated in the Business Hall of Fame, been made a member of the Order of the British Empire and a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to manufacturing, export, and the community.
Izard Investments has put money into a handful of valuable properties in downtown Auckland, including a $44 million commercial property on Queen St. “It’s the only part of Auckland I like,” he chuckles. He also owns a 13ha land bank at Whakamoenga Point where he and his wife, Patience, live in a gated community overlooking Taupo’s Acacia Bay.
He also invested in a few Kiwi companies over the years, including Future Mobility Solutions (former Sealegs) though prefers to avoid the moniker angel investor. When it’s business, he likes to make a profit.
Grounded
The passionate aviator has had to give up flying due to his age, selling his planes except for his “best” one that has gone to his son, Bill. Izard has also closed his small scenic flights operation in Taupo.
“Once I stop something I get right away,” he says. While he misses his hobby, he’s also pragmatic. “You can’t keep on doing everything all the time.”
He’s also cut back on his classic car collection, claiming he doesn’t have the room. But he still owns eight cars, including a few classic ones.
Izard gets embarrassed talking about the couple’s philanthropy but says they prefer donating to good causes locally. That includes buying land and funding a new building for the Taupo Hospice, saving Taupo’s motorsport park from bank foreclosure, donating to the SPCA, and supporting the Taupo branch of the charity Menz Shed (which is a bunch of middle-aged blokes doing good deeds for the community such as building playgrounds for pre-school centres).
He’s also given money in the past to his former schools, Wanganui Collegiate (which he left at age 15) and Hawkes Bay’s Hereworth School.