Winner of the 32nd Henry Ngai Medium to Large Business Award - Josef Chromy OAM
Josef Chromy is the founder of the JAC Group and Josef Chromy Wines. He grew up from the age of eight to 19 under 11 years of successive Nazi and soviet occupation. Enduring a harrowing six-day escape from Russian-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1950 and 5 months in the US Occupation Zone in Austria as a political refugee, Josef grabbed the opportunity to start a new life, far from the threat of conflict and communism with both hands. Josef is the winner of the 32nd Annual Henry Ngai Medium to Large Business Award.
Q: When did Joseph arrive in Australia?
Joseph arrived in Australia in 1951, penniless and unable to speak English. It was a sense of hope and ambition that drove Josef Chromy to remain optimistic about his future.
Q: How did Joseph manage the resources and funds to start his business?
A: Working hard in a cement factory, Josef saved enough money to open his own butchery - Continental Small Goods. Forty years later, that butchery had grown into a leading, vertically integrated meat export business. it grew to become the largest private employer the meat business that joe had in Tasmania with 540 employees when it was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1993. proceeds of the float allowed Josef to establish the JAC Group - a Launceston- based mixed investment group with a diverse range of interests including tourism, wineries, property development and hospitality. With a number of world-renowned brands to its name, the JAC Group continues to win big and dream bigger.
Josef Chromy pictured with Joseph Assaf AO, Founder and Chairman of the EBA
Josef suffered a stroke in 2005 which left the whole right side of his body paralysed. He had to re-learn how to walk as well as how to talk. His speech has been significantly affected but he has pushed on with his business and is still able to do some remarkable projects. Now in his nineties, he still goes into the office five days a week and spends his weekends brainstorming strategies for the business. For Josef, work is his hobby.
Josef Chromy wines has a fantastic team of winemakers where they produce three tiers of wine – the entry level, easy drinking tier “Pepik” which as actually Josef’s nickname. Then there is the “Josef Chromy” brand, which is their main brand of wine sold, and then above that they have “Zdar”, which is named after Josef’s hometown and translates to “success”. The 2011 Josef Chromy chardonnay won the best chardonnay in the world at the decanter world wine awards held in London in the Albert Hall. The business is now worth some hundreds of millions of dollars and the JAC group say that their task in the future is to turn it into a billion-dollar company.
“I am living proof that young people with not a penny, no English and no contacts can do well in Australia ”
Josef Chromy pictured with Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Q: Why did Joseph choose Australia as his new home?
A: As a migrant that arrived in Australia speaking no English and seeking refuge, Josef’s story is so moving and inspirational. During his winner’s speech, his Grandson Dean Cocker (Managing Director of JAC Group) asked him why he chose Australia as his new home. For Josef, Australia (and namely Tasmania) was a no brainer. His business mindset told him that the United States would hold too much competition and that he needed to find a young and fresh country to start his new life in. In Josef’s words: “I am happy, happy, happy”. He is proud to be a true immigrant and live in a “beautiful country like Australia”.
Josef generously donated his winner’s cheque to the Australian Migrant Resource Centre, an organisation that helps Migrants find their feet when they arrive in Australia
