In 2004, young entrepreneur Nick Holden took an opportunity that, unbeknown to him, would lead him to great career success. He appeared on the ABC’s television show The New Inventors to showcase his concept of a composite boundary walling system, which was developed while he was renovating a house to on-sell, and passers-by took notice.
“Council restrictions stopped me from building a brick wall out the front of the house that I had bought. I wanted a masonry look, but they were unwilling to compromise,” says Nick.
With his father in a successful manufacturing business, and having access to his tools and machinery, Nick overcame this hurdle by creating what was to blossom into the first commercial version of a composite wall that looked like rendered brick but satisfied council’s requirements of not having any continuous foundations. “From there on, I got a lot of interest from people passing by,” Nick comments. Based on this interest and a passion for manufacturing, he started making the product from inside a small factory unit, and Modular Wall Systems™ was born.
Several months later, Nick came across an advertisement for The New Inventors and decided to give his idea a shot in front of the panel of judges. “I thought I would apply and have a go because it would be good publicity and couldn’t hurt,” he explains. “At that point, I was the business. I answered the phone, did the accounts, manufactured the product, and trained the installers. However, after my appearance on the show—literally the following day—I received hundreds of phone calls from people wanting to purchase the product.”