When billionaire shopping mall owner Shaun Bonett was about 10 years old he refused to go to school. He simply hated it.
Due to his dad’s work as a specialist oncologist with the World Health Organisation, London-born Bonett moved around a lot. He was homeschooled for the most part until being sent into year 4 at St Ignatius. A friend working at a bank said more than 90 per cent of bank loan portfolios had fallen into its bad debts area, and encouraged him to consider buying it as an asset.
He was building a tenancy for global tech giant Apple at his Brisbane shopping centre, MacArthur Central.He remembers being excited to work for Apple, and knowing the firm took everything to another level asked what builder and consultants it wanted. Apple referred him to a builder. Bonett bypassed his usual tender process. He overlooked all the checks and balances he’d previously used.
Another lesson he shares is to take your time. After turning around the performance of his first shopping centre complex, he was invited to buy another for about $15 million. It didn’t stack up for him, so he didn’t jump at it. He’d end up securing the centre for $11 million.