Eddy Groves
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Eddy Groves (born 16 June 1966) is an Australian businessman, founder and Global Chief Executive Officer of ABC Learning, one of Australia's largest companies and one of the world's biggest childcare providers.
Eddy Groves was born in Durban, South Africa. Both of his parents were of Canadian citizenship (Major Raymond Groves CD (Ret'd), (born St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, 02 June 1921) and Sybil Groves (born Rock, Cornwall, Great Britain, 11 June 1919)). His country of birth was a matter of happenstance; his parents travelled considerably.
The family return to Canada (Edmonton, Alberta) occurred in late 1966. A further relocation found the family on the West Coast (Victoria, British Columbia) in July of 1968. Eventually, the family decided to make their home in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Eddy arrived in Brisbane in August 1971.
He was educated at Padua College. He briefly studied accounting at the Queensland University of Technology before dropping out to focus on his business activities.
After leaving school, he got his first job as a bank clerk and then later as a milkman for Pauls Milk in Brisbane. Armed with a loan from his family he bought a distributorship when he was nineteen years old which was the start of his business career. He expanded his milk distribution business to the point where his company Quantum Food is now the biggest distributor of milk in Queensland.
He and his wife identified an opportunity in the childcare space on the basis that it was a "needed service" much like milk distribution, and they opened a childcare centre in suburban Brisbane in 1988. Run as a franchise model, their centres quickly became successful, expanded quickly, with bank finance from St George Bank of $20 million by 1993 and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2001. They both retain a 14.9% share in the company now worth $2.5 billion, making Eddy Groves one of Australia's richest people according to Business Review Weekly.
Groves is well connected politically with prominent conservative political figures like former federal Minister Larry Anthony and former Lord Mayor of Brisbane Sally-Anne Atkinson on the board of his company.
In 1999, Groves purchased the Brisbane Bullets basketball team that competes in the National Basketball League competition. He restructured the organisation, injected funds causing the team to be much more successful, making the finals in the 2003/4 season. he recently bought the Distinctive Homes Dome in Adelaide, which houses the NBL team Adelaide 36ers. In late 2005, Groves opened Dreamy Donuts in Charlotte St, Brisbane.
He is a flamboyant person by the standards of usually conservative businessmen. He wears alligator skin shoes, drives a red Ferrari and prefers to commute using a helicopter. He recently emerged unscathed from a helicopter accident. Both ABC Learning and Groves are generous philanthropists, giving financial support to the Queensland Institute of Medical Research and the Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital. He lives on the Gold Coast with wife Le Neve.
