My Account
At a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister in Hamilton recently, Alpha Aviation opened its new manufacturing facility. The plant will produce one of the most competitive two-seater training and aerobatic aircraft in the world. It will be worth about $75 million to the Waikato economy over the next decade and Alpha hopes to export up to 100 planes a year. Behind this multi-million dollar enterprise is a genial entrepreneur who says that when he was a kid he just wanted to be a farmer. Jannette Thompson caught up with Richard Izard at his Wayby property, Springhill …
How did a Wanganui boy wind-up in Wellsford?
I’d just spent three years in California and Oregon, pioneering the sale of sheepskin seat covers in the US. It was a tough slog breaking into the market, convincing the Americans that sheepskins weren’t just something for cold climates. Our break came when we started selling them to light aircraft owners. Then the companies back in NZ put up their prices, thinking they could make a killing on their own, so we decided it was time for a change. The NZ Government was offering incentives to set-up businesses in areas of high unemployment so that’s why we decided to open the saw-blade plant here. I actually thought I was setting up in Warkworth.
It seems to have been a successful decision for you?
Wellsford was a blessing. We couldn’t have had better people working for us. At its peak, Izard’s was employing 525 people and about 60 per cent were of Maori descent. They were brilliant, absolutely brilliant. At one stage we had 40 per cent of the world saw-blade market. We used a tungsten carbide tip which helped us produce a high quality product, faster and cheaper than anything else on the market. We also had plants in Taiwan, Canada and England. I ran the company for 14 years until 1994.
So why did you sell?
The Americans wanted it and, as they say, I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse. I wasn’t a willing seller. It was a very difficult decision and I really missed the company and the staff.
Has your family always run businesses?
My father Nowell was a lawyer and judge from Wanganui. He was the fourth generation in the family to pursue a legal career but all I wanted to be was a farmer. After finishing school I did the standard meat and wool course at Massey University, then started work as a shepherd in Gisborne and later Fielding. My shepherding days came to an abrupt end, however, when a 44-gallon drum full of water rolled onto my back, crushing three of my vertebrae. It took about a year to convalesce and then another 10 years before I was really back to normal. I couldn’t go back to shepherding but I was alive and I wasn’t in a wheelchair so I counted myself very lucky.
What happened next?
I love cars. In fact, I’m a car-aholic! I started selling farm machinery and then the opportunity arose to go to England to do a two-year engineering course with the Standard Triumph Motor Company. Patience and I were married by then and we had two young children, Bill and Phillipa. Eventually, I returned to the company’s NZ head office in Auckland, which later became Leylands, and then bought a dealership in Te Awamutu in 1963. It lasted 10 years but I hated selling cars. I sold the business in 1974 and invested in a company manufacturing women’s hair ornaments. What a disaster. We practically lost everything. It was a good product but just as we went into production, women decided to cut their hair short. That’s when we moved to the US.
What have your seesawing fortunes taught you?
Have an inquiring mind and do your homework. The principles of business are pretty simple – you have to deliver the product on time, within budget and in the condition promised. I have also invested heavily in research and development.
Will Springhill always be your home?
They’ll have to take me out of here in a box. This property is the apple of my eye – I love it. We have nearly 500 hectares which accommodates my airfield, the woodshed and other farm buildings, as well as our family homes. We run sheep and cattle including Galloways. We’re also involved in trying to save a 200-year-old breed of Spanish merino which comes from Pitt Island in the Chathams.
And the future?
I’ve got a 37 per cent share in Alfa and that’ll keep me busy in the foreseeable future. There are also other businesses, as well as the farm. It’s a family owned company – my son Bill is in charge of sales and purchasing, and Phillipa’s husband Ken Price is general manager. I also have four grandchildren. Patience and I have worked hard over the years so perhaps we’ll have some time to concentrate on enjoying ourselves.
Will that involve cars?
Funny you should ask that. I have just taken delivery of the latest Bentley, a Continental GT. It’s got a 550 horsepower engine and is twin-turbo charged. There are also a couple of classics in the garage including a 1954 Bentley which has been in the family since it was new. My wife was a commercial pilot, although she doesn’t fly now, but I still fly a Vulcanair P68C ‘Partenavia’ and also Alphas.
Footnote: Mr Izard’s biography is expected to be published later next year.
