Part-time entrepreneur, full-time engineer
by Katrina Kalleske
Greg Linke’s working life solidly revolves around cars and garages. The 2008 UniSA graduate has used his Mechanical Engineering degree with First Class Honours to establish a part-time business for his garage storage system, while his professional career at Holden has advanced rapidly.
He has also won a number of awards, including the 2007 UniSA Pank Entrepreneurial Prize for his business - Pro Kreate Innovations. Linke says that award bolstered his confidence in the venture and provided an incentive to move forward.
And he did move forward, winning a position with Business SA’s South Australian Young Entrepreneur Scheme (SAYES). SAYES aims to provide young South Australians with the skills and confidence to develop and implement their business ideas.
"SAYES not only provides invaluable real world business knowledge through seasoned business mentoring training sessions, but also a network of like-minded entrepreneurs and business contacts," he said.
"From my SAYES training, I realised that I needed to deliver a more robust business model beyond my initial single product line, so I went in search of additional inventions for my business portfolio. Using many of the skills I cultivated at university, the business was expanded to support a new product development strategy, and I now have five product lines in various stages of commercialisation."
Inspired by a UniSA course on product design in 2006, Linke formed his part-time business and created the Garage Tidy. His innovative garage storage system spawned from a design he created many years ago when faced with his own garage storage problem at home.
"The market is significant, with 10,000 new garages sold every month in Australia, on top of the one million already in existence," he said.
While Linke’s business venture is advancing, his career at Holden has been bolstered by his UniSA degree. He studied part-time, while moving from an apprentice engineering tradesperson, to senior draftsperson, and then Manager of Virtual Manufacturing Engineering.
He also holds various positions on GM’s Global Advanced Manufacturing Engineering councils as a representative for both GM Australia and Asia Pacific, allowing him to research the most promising advanced technologies and implement them back home in SA.
"For me, studying part-time whilst working has been an epic undertaking, spanning 10 years. However, the industry experience has most certainly enriched my education - which has been key to the recognition I have achieved."
That recognition has been through a list of notable award including the 2008 Sir Thomas Playford Memorial award for his exceptional academic achievement; the 2009 Keith Johinke Medal from Engineers Australia (selected from graduate candidates from all Engineering Schools at UniSA); and the 2009 Institute of Mechanical Engineers Project Prize for the most outstanding final year project.
Linke has also recently been selected as an industry representative on the UniSA School of Advanced Mechanical Engineering Advisory Board.