Melbourne entrepreneur, Nick Andrianakos, has opened up recently to The Australian Financial Review about his life story and how patience, a passion for property and a lot of petrol-pumping led to him being named on Australia’s Rich List.
In the interview, Andrianakos describes how he was born in 1943 on a farm in the Greek village of Pikerni, about 160 kilometres west of Athens. He left school in the third grade to help his family and later completed two years of army service.
After returning home from his service, he decided he needed to leave and make a new life in Australia.
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“When I left my parents were crying, but there was no other option,” Andrianakos tells the newspaper.
Migrating to Australia on the Patris, Andrianakos arrived at Port Melbourne in January 23, 1967. The rest, as they say, was history.
The billionaire met and married, Anthoula, and she raised their four children as Andrianakos worked stints at leather and steel factories. Later, he bought his first service station (and the land beneath it) in Coburg in 1976.
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“I was doing everything – checking tyres, fighting with the suppliers. It was 16-hour days to support my family and get ahead,” Andrianakos said.
Finally, in 1981, he secured two more BP sites in Footscray and Coburg. In 2017, he sold what was by then 54 service stations under his Milemaker Petroleum chain to their fuel supplier, Caltex, for $95 million.
Since then, Andrianakos has also bought office towers in Adelaide and Brisbane.
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Andrianakos said he “was lucky” with these sales but it’s clear his success isn’t simply tied to luck. Rather, its his hard work ethic and strong morals which have made him the man he is today.
“I built Milemaker on my word and I respect people who keep theirs,” he concluded. “Tell me a lie, I can’t accept it. Tell me the truth, I give you my heart.”
Source: The Australian Financial Review.
