How Cathie Reid went from typing class to a $550m fortune

“It could never happen these days. Imagine some random rings the school and switches your kid from one class to another. My parents had no idea, there was no parental consent. They didn’t know. They were as surprised as I was when I got home from school [to tell them].”

It was the sliding doors moment that put Ms Reid onto a pathway to becoming an entrepreneur.

With husband Stuart Giles, she would develop the 28-site Epic Pharmacy chain. They sold it for about $37 million to a long-term business partner before in 2011 building Icon Group, a chain of cancer care centres. They progressively sold down. Icon is now owned by global investment firm EQT, which cut a deal in 2021 that delivered Ms Reid and Mr Giles an estimated $115 million pay day for their minority holding.

None of it could have happened if she didn’t study pharmacy. Ms Reid became a pharmacist before another life event would add more runway to eventual success.

Her first marriage ended at a time when those in her social group were coupled up. She signed up to go to a pharmacy conference in Fiji rather than “a sad singles tour” with Contiki.

It was there she met people involved in a start-up, and began working with them. She continued working at the pharmacy before eventually throwing in the towel to go full-time with the pharmacy start-up.

She met Mr Giles at a mutual friend’s birthday party in Melbourne. Not too long after, they were married and have been partners in business and life ever since.

Expect the unexpected

Ms Reid has been confronted with her fair share of challenges, including being told at Easter in 2007 that the company’s biggest customer was leaving. It meant 60 per cent of revenue would vanish. They knuckled down, focusing on a business plan and new growth areas, and from there, new businesses were born.

Brisbane-based Ms Reid, 54, says one of the lessons she has learnt has come from their cancer care business: like life, business does not always go to plan.

“No one wakes up when they’re making the New Year’s resolutions and goes, ‘you know what, I could actually deal with a cancer diagnosis this year. This is the perfect year to do it.’ It can hit you at any time.

“So, we’ve always been really very much of a mindset that you need to know what your potential exits are, almost before you start or even as you’re starting. And make sure that you’re actually structured to be able to manage that as well.”

That means structuring the business effectively. Ms Reid and Mr Giles have lined up to buy pharmacies over the years and ended up walking away because the business finances were too entwined with the finances of the owner.

She says it is important to understand how the business’ finances operate. That doesn’t mean being the person who has to produce the balance sheet, but having an understanding of cash flow is critical. “As a business owner, you can’t have the luxury of saying ‘I’m not really a numbers person’. That is a very dangerous approach to take.”

Ms Reid and Mr Giles are now investing in a range of businesses, from modular construction to technology, health and lifestyle companies.