Frank O’Connor—a Capricorn founding father and our first general manager from 1974 to 2000—joined his successors, Trent Bartlett (CEO from 2001 to 2011), current CEO David Fraser, and Bradley Gannon, the man who will be CEO from January next year. Unfortunately Greg Wall (CEO from 2011 – 2019) was unable to make it. Held at Capricorn’s new head office on Perth’s St Georges Terrace, the men reminisced about the past and discussed the future of Capricorn.
The men swapped stories and poured over mementos from the cooperative’s past, including the minutes of the original meeting forming Capricorn in December 1974, commemorative plates from our twenty-fifth anniversary in 1999, and the colourful jackets that marked Capricorn team at events over many decades.
Frank shared the story of Capricorn’s formation—how, after a training session for WA-based Golden Fleece service station owners, a buying group was formed.
“One of the topics was how to improve your business and one of the ways was to buy better,” Frank said. “How could you buy cheaper?”
In those days, parts suppliers in WA were limited in number and tight on market control. So, when one of the group bragged he could get spark plugs much cheaper than the regular price, he wasn’t believed. Frank himself was buying sealed beams much cheaper than everyone else. When the group caught up a month later, they all took in their invoices to prove their claims! When the claims proved true, the men agreed to pool their power and began buying as a group.
“Gradually it grew until one firm, Lucas, which no longer exists, said if we appointed a central person they’d give us a five per cent discount on all our purchases. So that was the catalyst."
“The reason we called it Capricorn was we were going to go around the world.”
The ambition was big, but those early years were tough. Several times the fledgling cooperative nearly didn’t make it. But under Frank’s stewardship, it grew. One of his most memorable achievements was finally hitting $100,000 in sales in a month—a milestone they’d been desperate to make.
“I led the staff in a conga line through the office,” he said.
Trent came to Capricorn from the retail sector already an experienced business leader, charged with building on Frank’s legacy. His goal was to achieve $1 billion in sales in a year within the decade.
“Hitting that milestone was important and we hit it with about eight weeks to go (before I left Capricorn)—so I only just got there with the team,” he said.
Under Trent’s guidance Capricorn Mutual was launched.
"I’m so proud of what’s been achieved with it today,” Trent said.
Much of Capricorn Mutual’s success occurred under the stewardship of Greg and now David. It was actually Trent who poached David for Capricorn from Coventrys—and gave Brad his start at Capricorn, too.
“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am in that succession,” Trent said. “David has done a fantastic job and I know Brad is going to do great things.”
But being Capricorn’s leader isn’t without its challenges. Trent recalls a rushed trip to London after the Christchurch earthquake, to shore up Capricorn’s reinsurance. “The Members were hurting really badly and I was so proud of what we did,” Trent said.
David recalled a similar sense of pride in Capricorn’s response to the Queensland and New South Wales floods of early 2022 and said that’s part of what makes Capricorn such a special organisation.
“We’ve never lost sight of our purpose, why we exist, why we started,” David said. “That is something we don’t take for granted. We’re here to help and support them to be stronger businesses, to be more sustainable.”
“The Capricorn business model is an amazing one; it’s 50 years young and it’s got so much potential,” Brad said. “There are more ways we can help our community. There’ll be things we need to adapt and evolve as things change around us, but those core principles, the way we do business, the way we look after each other as a community, are what’s going to make us successful in the next years.”
