When Matthew Wilkins first started Venergy Solar Australia, there was no playbook. Instead, he leaned into the challenge, focusing on his commitment to the business and to his customers.
“It was quite literally me driving around in a van, installing solar by day, administration and quoting by night,” he recalls. “We’re a 16-year overnight success.”
Today, Wilkins leads one of Australia’s most respected renewable energy companies – a business born from resilience, partnerships and a refusal to chase growth at any cost.
“One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned is you can’t be everything to everyone,” he explains on CEO: Behind the Scenes. “We’ve really learned that the hard way.”
That discipline shaped both how Venergy Solar Australia scaled and how it has protected its reputation over the years.
“If something looks like it’s outside of our core activity, or it’s going to have a high risk of stretching our resources or putting risk on our reputation, we’ll say no,” Wilkins says.
“And I think that’s really received well by customers and respected. It’s built a lot of trust for us over the years.”
This trust is also integral to the company’s strong partnerships, to which Wilkins credits much of the company’s stability — particularly during volatile market conditions.
“Our longest delivery partner’s been with us for nearly eight years, and that’s created a real winning partnership for Venergy,” he says.
“It’s allowed us to just focus on our core mission rather than constantly going to the market and tendering.”
Innovation with impact
That same focus on quality is reflected in the company’s engineering breakthroughs, like the Solar One device that dramatically reduced the cost of installing solar for retirees on fixed incomes.
“By doing this, we were able to bring that initial outlay cost down, which all of a sudden made putting solar on very viable,” Wilkins explains.
“These households are probably saving around a thousand dollars per year, and collectively, that’s a million dollars in the first year.”
“Treating someone how you want to be treated in business goes a really long way.”
For Wilkins, leadership comes down to people – and perspective.
“You’re never wrong for doing what’s right,” he says.
“Treating someone how you want to be treated in business goes a really long way.”
Listen to the latest episode of our CEO: Behind the Scenes podcast with Matthew Wilkins on Amazon, Apple or Spotify.
