Mortgage man driven by a strong work ethic

By VIKKI BLAND

It's 9am Saturday and Mike Pero, Pacific Businessperson of the Year and managing director of Mike Pero Mortgages, is on his treadmill.

While he walks, he talks, using a hands free phone to conduct the interview supporting this article. Once he completes this ritual hour of morning exercise, he's having people over for breakfast, then it's off to a business meeting in town.

The previous night, he flew home to Christchurch from Auckland after winning the title (awarded bi-annually by the Pacific Business Trust, a charitable organisation supporting business activity and ownership for New Zealanders of Pacific descent).

Pero says this particular Saturday is quieter then some. Which makes you wonder what he gets up to on Sundays.

"I find it very difficult to relax," he says. "I get up in the morning and I can't wait to get to work and check my emails.

"I'm like the little Energiser battery on TV. It's go, go, go all day then at night my family laughs at me because I'm asleep in front of the television after 10 minutes."

Pero is a worthy recipient of his latest award.

Born in February 1960 to Rarotongan parents, he was raised in Christchurch and attended Shirley Boys' High, where he achieved five School Certificate subjects before boredom overtook. He left aged 16.

Attracted to mechanics, cars and aircraft, he trained as a pilot and eventually flew for Mt Cook Airlines in Auckland. A failed business venture and a marriage in crisis saw him resign and return to Christchurch.

Pero divorced, and his first wife and their two children (now 21 and 17) moved to Wellington. He remarried, and had two more children.

In 1990, after selling life insurance and securing a mortgage of his own, he established Mike Pero Mortgages with the aim of providing broker services and financial services to support real estate agents.

The business was one of the first of its kind and was initially a hard sell. Pero says at one point he was $700,000 in debt and relying on his American Express credit card to get by.

The fledgling business also faced immediate competition from banks and building societies. It was minuscule in comparison to those organisations, initially trading on a monthly turnover of just $5000.

Despite this, by 1996 Mike Pero Mortgages had two branches in Christchurch and Pero had sold 50 per cent of the business to South Canterbury Finance (SCF), a shareholder with an asset backing of more than $250 million.

With that investment, Mike Pero Mortgages expanded into the Auckland market in 1997, and in 1998 franchised its name and formula. Today, the business has 30 franchises, processes close to $1 billion worth of loans each year, and has processed more than $5 billion in loans for more than 40,000 New Zealanders since its inception. It is also the largest single mortgage broking business in New Zealand and the only home lender to obtain ISO 9002 certification.

He describes the suburb of Aranui as the Otara of Christchurch but says growing up there was uneventful.

"I rarely saw another Pacific Islander. It's too cold for most of us down here, isn't it?

"Even now, I can go for months in Christchurch without seeing another brown face. But it's not something I really think about."

This year, he bought back the half of his business he sold to South Canterbury Finance (SCF) in 1996. Pero had initially intended to sell his half to SCF to retire and pursue other interests - notably motor racing, of which he is a keen enthusiast and team owner.

SCF had the business valued and discovered it was worth eight digits which Pero says inspired it to join him in putting together a joint sale package, with the aim of selling the business as a whole and dividing the profit.

Had that proceeded, Pero would, in his own words, "be sitting on a beach somewhere by now". Instead, he bought out SCF.

"Financing it was no problem, but SCF took some persuading to sell their half back to me," he says cheerfully. So why did the seller turn buyer? The answer provides an interesting insight to Peros character.

"I'd become disillusioned and I thought I was ready to sell and retire. But suddenly I thought 'if I sell this business, what will I do?'

"I look around, and I see guys that have retired and find themselves depressed. I've never been depressed and I don't like the idea of it happening to me."

That fear has driven Pero back to sole ownership of a business that has made him a household name and independently wealthy. And he says coming to his decision was like getting "a shot of steroids in my arm".

"I don't want the money or need the money. People say 'if only I had a million dollars' but I've been there and done that. Instead, I'm motivated by sales targets and net profits.

"I've got lots of ideas for moving forward. My mind goes all day and all night and I'm very close to my business; I write television campaigns on the back of airline sick bags when I'm travelling. No bank is as focused as that."

While not prepared to reveal how wealthy he now is, Pero has fun watching people guess.

"I'm very comfortably off, I could retire. But I'm not as rich as some people think. I have to keep telling the National Business Review I don't quite qualify for their rich list; I'm at the low end of the ladder."

Apart from fearing boredom, depression, and leaving the planet too early without making a difference, Pero says he is driven by a work ethic his parents instilled in him.

"I struggle with the cocky attitude of young people today. They walk out of university, and don't expect to work hard. It's like, 'where's my get rich quick scheme?' Okay, my business was a success, but only after 10 years of bloody hard work. And the first five years I ploughed everything back in."

Pero says many companies fail in the throes of initial success, because the directors begin to spend cash on expensive cars and lifestyle choices.

"You need discipline and a good work ethic to be successful. I believe in helping yourself."

Pero's parents still work, despite his father being in his 70s and his mother in her 60s.

"Dad still drives taxis and mum works in Feilding running a farm. When I was in primary school they owned a fish and chip shop and we'd peel the potatoes.

"When I was 15, I worked for $4 a day on a poultry farm. We'd start at 8am and finish at 5pm with a 30-minute break. I made enough money to buy my first motorbike."

Obviously a workaholic, Pero knows he should slow down a little and spend more time with his family. He says he's learned the importance of finding a balance and of looking after his health, hence the treadmill each morning.

"My heart rate is only 120 and I've been going an hour; this interview is good for me," he says cheerfully.

Good humoured and modestly confident, Pero says he thought he would win Pacific Businessperson of the Year.

"I'm especially pleased because right now I am working harder than I have in my life."

An admirer of entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson and, closer to home, Stephen Tindall and Michael Hill, Pero says when he dies he'd like to be remembered as the little Pacific Island boy who left school in the fifth form and went on to learn a trade.

With his candid talk and likeable persona, Pero will probably be remembered for far more than that. In the meantime, he'll no doubt take his latest award the way he takes the treadmill, and most things in life - in his stride.