Innovator gets smart with web business

SmartyHost managing director Anoosh Manzoori epitomizes the quintessential entrepreneur.

He is also one of many success stories to emerge from the University of Adelaide's Graduate Entrepreneurial Program at Adelaide University Research Park - Thebarton Campus.

Created in 1993, Thebarton is one of the premier university-owned technology/research parks in Australia. Within its business incubator, graduates have the chance to develop their skills with some of the country's most innovative companies.

Armed with a Bachelor of Science degree from Monash University, Mr Manzoori enrolled in Adelaide's entrepreneurial program and at the same time put his considerable talent and innovative juices to work.

With the backing of an Ernst & Young/American Chamber of Commerce Graduate Entrepreneurial Scholarship, and capitalising on business mentoring, Mr Manzoori established three separate ventures in the diverse areas of health (PracSmart), travel (atGuru Consulting) and a small-to-medium enterprise (SmartyHost) out of Thebarton.

All three ventures were based on good value, high levels of customer service and advanced technology solutions. SmartyHost is the third and broadest of the three, and the one making Mr Manzoori a man in demand.

"I created SmartyHost in 1999 with a view to providing the small-to-medium sized business sector with much better value web hosting and management services than currently existed in the market," Mr Manzoori said.

"I saw an opportunity to exploit a technology gap where the leading players were consistently overcharging their customers. Our aggressive pricing model challenged the web hosting industry to offer better-value services and is likely to shake up the market considerably."

SmartyHost is the only business of its kind in Australia that can bill, register domains and set up a web server in real-time within 2-3 minutes. The larger players take 7-10 days to complete all three.

It has not been slow going. SmartyHost receives some 4000 email support questions per week,
and the company is growing at more than 20% per month.

"This is a truly remarkable story," said Kankana McPherson, Coordinator of the Graduate Entrepreneurial Program. "Anoosh typifies the individual we attract to our program.

"Since its inception in 1993, we have assisted 59 graduates and TAFE diplomates to develop 54 innovative businesses. These are powerful statistics and it speaks volumes for the talent."

"Coupled to this, it has signalled the university's commitment to fostering a culture of entrepreneurship through relevant programs and coursework, providing self-employment as a training outcome and ultimately contributing to the state's economic development."

For more information about the Graduate Entrepreneurial Program call Ms McPherson
on (08) 8303 3273 or email: kankana.mcpherson@adelaide.edu.au

www.adelaide.edu.au/OIL/

Story by Howard Salkow