From African refugee to Australian billionare

When Roland Coneliano escaped from Africa and landed in Australia, he didn’t speak a word of English.

He was young, with nothing but a few diamonds hidden in his shoes.

No connections, no help. Just himself in a strange country.

He never imagined, and no one else did either, that sixty years later, the company he built would be worth nearly 2.1 billion Australian dollars.

Redox, his business, became a giant in chemical trading.

Redox wasn’t like other companies. It didn’t follow the usual rules.

It paid taxes, more than 30% of its revenue every year.

No trusts, no offshore tax havens. No tax refunds, either.

Even before going public, Redox acted like it already had.

Every year, it published full financial reports. It didn’t hide anything.

How did Redox get there? And how did Roland build this chemical giant?

Crossing the Red Sea

Roland Coneliano was born to an Italian family in Cairo, Egypt.

As an adult, Roland and his friend Kirk established a mechanical trading company, making their first bucket of gold by importing and exporting mechanical parts between Soviet Union member states.

However, the good times didn't last long.

From 1961, Egyptian leader Nasser announced the country would follow an Arab socialist development path, implementing nationalisation, cracking down on foreign capital, and pushing for land reform.

This created a massive crisis for foreign entrepreneurs like Roland.

Roland made the decisive decision to abandon his newly started business and flee the country—shortly after, Roland and Kirk brought their families to Australia as refugees, settling in Sydney.

To escape Egypt, Roland sold everything.

When he arrived in Sydney, his family's entire fortune consisted of just a few diamonds hidden in his shoes.

Unwilling to sit idle while his resources dwindled, he attempted to restart his familiar mechanical trading business but quickly discovered his previous methods wouldn't work—Australia didn't recognise the mechanical specifications and standards of former Soviet countries, and the imported machines became worthless scrap.

Additionally, since he and Kirk couldn't speak English at all, the first few years of entrepreneurship were extremely difficult.

Faced with new challenges, Roland showed remarkable courage, decisively abandoning his old trade and turning to inorganic chemicals, which had fewer restrictions.

In an era when the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union was at its peak, while most people saw only red lines and prohibitions, few could discover business opportunities in this field like Roland did。

Soviet bloc countries had numerous state-owned chemical plants that could supply basic inorganic chemicals like potassium hydroxide and magnesium chloride dirt cheap, while rapidly developing Western countries had high demand for these industrial products and could offer generous purchase prices.

To break through, Roland studied English on his own while making door-to-door sales. Using a low-price strategy, they finally achieved profitability in 1971.

After establishing the business, Roland began utilising his previous connections, traveling between Australia and Soviet bloc countries.

Containers of chemical products flowed from East to West, his business rapidly rose, and Redox was born during this period, eventually becoming one of the global chemical trading giants.

Against All Odds

Redox's development wasn't always smooth sailing, but under Roland's leadership, Redox handled all risks nearly perfectly.

In 1983, Redox's founding partner Kirk passed away, and Roland immediately bought out Kirk's shares from his wife, avoiding the dispersal of founder equity.

Six years later, fate seemed to play another trick on Roland—the Berlin Wall fell, and the Soviet Union collapsed.

Several of Redox's largest suppliers—state-owned enterprises from Poland, East Germany, and Russia—disappeared overnight, forcing them to quickly seek other sources.

This time Redox chose China—affordable prices, high quality, and stable supply. These advantages made Chinese products account for up to 40% of Redox's supply, and they remain difficult to replace even today.

By 2008, when the financial crisis swept the globe, Redox's business philosophy saved them once again.

Due to Roland's cautious financial management and his own modest lifestyle, when the financial storm hit and banks began tightening lending policies, Redox had almost no debt.

Instead, it was their competitors who couldn't bear the burden and fell one after another.

That year, Redox achieved a turnaround, with revenue increasing by 52 million Australian dollars, growing by 25%.

After Redox firmly established itself, Roland didn't relax but set his sights even further. Just like when he fled from Egypt to Australia, the prosperity of his family was his lifelong goal.

This time, he had to consider how to keep his family business thriving for generations.

Most family businesses suffer from similar problems—either becoming rigid through blind xenophobia or losing control of shares after introducing capital.

To prevent Redox from falling into similar predicaments, Roland personally designed a unique equity structure and succession system, ensuring he could control business decisions during his lifetime while preventing successors from losing power to outside capital.

In 2017, Roland, who had fought all his life, passed away peacefully at the age of 88.

NOT For a Few Dollars More

How is Redox different from other giants?

In many ways, Redox is unique.

It takes pride in paying taxes, consistently paying 30% or more in full taxes annually, never utilising any tax breaks.

Although not publicly listed, it consistently publishes complete financial statements every year, maintaining transparency about its operations to the outside world.

It never uses trusts or offshore tax havens. Its founder and successors have always maintained a modest and low-key lifestyle.

Roland's son, former Redox CEO Robert, even said—he and his family don't care about net profit; they only focus on gross profit because "we love paying taxes—we think it's the most patriotic thing you can do."

Redox employs cautious financial management, which is drastically different from the high-risk, high-leverage financial strategies adopted by many other companies.

This stable approach has allowed Redox to maintain stability during economic fluctuations, reduce financial risk, and thus gain greater flexibility and responsiveness.

Redox has always emphasised the importance of paying taxes, in stark contrast to some businesses that try to evade taxes.

This integrity and sense of responsibility have given Redox extremely high credibility among customers, suppliers, and partners, helping to build long-term relationships.

Redox publishes complete financial statements annually to public company standards, showing suppliers and customers the company's financial health.

Increased transparency has enhanced partners' trust in the company and helped extend supplier payment terms, further improving cash flow.

Redox has inherited founder Roland's family values in its corporate culture, emphasising a modest lifestyle, financial discipline, responsibility, and long-term sustainability.

This has led to more stable decision-making, ability to resist external pressures, and maintenance of long-term business focus.

Australia

Looking back now, Roland's choice sixty years ago brought Australia a multi-billion dollar giant, but upon closer reflection, hasn't Australia also made Roland and Redox what they are today?

As one of the world's most successful immigrant nations, Australia provided Roland and Redox with the following unparalleled business environment:

Political Stability and Legal Framework: Roland initially fled Egypt due to political and economic instability, while Australia offers a stable democratic political environment and sound legal system, providing reliable protection and a stable business environment for enterprises. This allowed Redox to make long-term plans and investments without being affected by political uncertainty and legal risks.

Strategic Geographic Location: Australia is located at the center of the Asia-Pacific region, close to rapidly growing Asian economies like China, India, and Southeast Asian countries, which have huge demand for chemical products. This enabled Redox to quickly respond to these markets' demands, establish close business relationships, achieve cross-border trade, and create favorable conditions for business growth.

Multicultural Society: Australia is known for its multiculturalism and inclusivity, which provided Redox with unique advantages in international business. Redox could understand customer needs from different cultural perspectives, establish effective international partnerships, and better adapt to global market diversity.

Business Partnerships: Australia is a founding member and active participant in various regional and global trade agreements, such as APEC. These agreements provided Redox with broader market access, reduced trade barriers, and expanded its international influence.

Education and R&D Support: Australia has a high-quality education system and R&D resources, providing Redox with opportunities for continuous innovation and product quality improvement. Businesses can collaborate with higher education institutions and research organisations on technical cooperation and innovation projects, driving continuous business development.

Business Innovation Atmosphere: Australia encourages innovation and entrepreneurship, providing businesses with a relaxed business environment. This allowed Redox to continuously innovate in the market, develop new products, services, and business models, and maintain competitive advantages.

Cross-cultural Communication Ability: Australia is a convergence point of Asian and Western cultures, with rich cross-cultural communication experience. This enabled Redox to better understand business customs and communication methods between different cultures, effectively communicating and cooperating with customers from different countries and regions.

Today, Redox's business continues to grow steadily, based in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, and the United States, and conducting business worldwide.

Now they sell everything. Sweeteners for your coffee. Paint for your walls. Rubber for your tires. The chemicals that build modern life.

But Australia remained home, and Redox stayed true.

This was where it worked. This was where it made sense.

The story sounds simple now. A refugee becomes rich. A family builds an empire.

But it wasn't that simple. It was Australia. The land made it possible. The people made it work.

Roland brought the will.

Australia gave him the way.

(The story of Roland Coneliano and Redox is inspired by the real-life achievements of Roland Coneliano and his family, as detailed in Alan Kohler's public report on the Coneliano family's Redox Group in The Australian. While the essence of the business journey and its principles are drawn from factual events, the narrative has been fictionalised, and some characters, events, and details have been creatively reimagined for the purpose of storytelling.)

Source: The Australian, AFR, Redox