Banker who turned to the fun money

As an accountant and investment banker, Grant Wilckens gained expertise in managing large international property deals. He lined up money for Frankfurt's airport and Hong Kong's underground Metro.

So, when he returned home to Adelaide from London in 2004, he put this experience to use in an opportunity that had long been overlooked. He spotted that holiday parks were essentially a cottage industry, but the right ones had plenty of potential.

Wilckens decided to try a roll-up, buying a number of them for a property trust to be run under the name G'Day Parks. He focused on regional locations, but when the GFC hit four years later, he switched to putting customers first. It was a big change in mindset, from running a property business to focusing on paying guests.

The economic downturn also alerted