The big deal

You would think that Derek Handley would have had his fill of high-stakes, round-the-table bluff sessions. The New York-based Kiwi entrepreneur has only just completed negotiating the sale of The Hyperfactory, the mobile marketing company he co-founded in 2001 with his brother Geoff, in a deal that has been reported as of ‘Navman proportions’. But here he is, pining for just a little free time to indulge his ruling passion, poker.

Handley, Ernst & Young’s 2009 Young Entrepreneur of the Year, plans to take a shot at next year’s New Zealand championship. “It’s not the money that interests me, so much as winning tournament ranking,” he says. “That is where poker is like business: you want to be the best.”

Finding parallels between playing poker and being an entrepreneur is easy. The hard bit is trying to discern a pattern in Handley’s career, which kicked off in 2001 with a venture into online gambling with Geoff as a callow 21 year old. After that company, Feverpitch International, foundered, Handley moved into the childcare industry, merging a number of major providers to form Kidicorp Group; then into fashion, co-founding luxury cashmere label To Sir with Love with a Sass & Bide stylist and an ex-Karen Walker designer.

The Hyperfactory — which numbers Coca-Cola, L’Oreal and Disney among its clients and has offices in Auckland, New York, LA, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney and Hyderabad in India — was entirely different again.
“I like to experiment and I love to learn all about different industries and markets,” he says.

The eclecticism of his portfolio reflects more than simple curiosity. Handley, 32, graduated from Victoria University with degrees in finance and architectural studies. However, when it comes to poker, he is neither one of those wholly calculating, mathematical players, nor a gut-instinct guy. “I have this left brain/right brain thing going on. I like to straddle the middle.”

It is hard to imagine Handley as anything other than an entrepreneur. Raised in Hong Kong until he was 13, his mother was Malay Chinese and his father a Scot with a sharp eye for business opportunities. As a family, he says, “we would talk about business at the dinner table. It was an ordinary thing to have business as a point of discussion.” Among his many ventures, Handley senior owned a chocolate factory and Handley can remember as a kid cycling around Hong Kong visiting shops at his behest. “There I was, eight years old and doing primary market research on the chocolate market for $10.”

The city itself was also hugely influential. “I was born in the late 70s and the period just before that was when Hong Kong really became something. The whole skyline changed. As a kid, watching this thing transform in front of your eyes, you could see the power of dreams, the power of entrepreneurialism and capitalism at work.”

The shift to Auckland at the start of his teens was a major change of pace, although less of a shock than it might have been. From a young age Handley had holidayed with his cousins who lived in New Zealand, even doing a stint of boarding at Kings at the age of 10.

He says he initially missed the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong. But New Zealand had space and freedom to think, both of which were emphasised during a liberal education at Selwyn College.

“I think the balance I have is a result of those two very different backgrounds. I know it is important to succeed in business, to make money and build profitable companies. But I also think it is important to be creative, innovative and artistic, to have a sensibility that isn’t all about climbing a ladder.

“I still love coming back to New Zealand every summer to hang out at the beach and just think about possibilities.”