37 Management Resource Solutions

Management Resource Solutions is no stranger to the Smart50, having been on the list for a few years now because of a period of incredible growth.

Paul Morffew started the company in 2007 after seeing a gap in the market for providing highly trained personnel to clients in need of technical support in the mining and resources industry.

Management Resource Solutions is a big hitter when it comes to revenue, turning over more than $17 million in the past financial year alone, but Morffew says the company faced challenges in the start-up phase like any other new business.

Morffew says the most challenging part of starting the business was trying to convince blue chip clients to buy into MRS’ niche offering of providing highly-skilled personnel.

“The problem we faced, like any startup business, is client acquisition but on a much larger scale,” he says.

Working in remote locations such as Papua New Guinea, where MRS has recently been constructing fuel tanks, has also thrown up its own set of unique challenges, Morffew says.

Morffew says there are several other acquisition prospects also on the horizon.

Another major goal is to focus on Asia Pacific markets and secure major engineering, procurement and construction management contracts, which Morffew hopes will help lead to further acquisitions.

Speaking of the challenges facing Australia’s mining and resource industries, Morffew says the recent downturn has meant some major changes to the employment market in the industry with many employers “now being candidate heavy and job poor”, while others are only offering residential roles and would not consider or offer fly-in, fly-out workers

“These trends play into MRS’s key strengths of providing highly-skilled technical personnel tailored to client needs,” he says.

Morffew says he has no exit plan for the business at the moment, with the company only recently starting on their major business expansion goals.