Welcome to My Net Worth, our regular column on the lives and motivations of our country’s top business, legal and political people, in their own words.

Kevin Obern moved from the United Kingdom to New Zealand with his family when he was a young boy. After dropping out of a bachelor of science degree at Auckland University, he returned to the UK for 21 years, creating and selling a successful office supplies business. He returned Downunder in the early 2000s to take up a senior role at office supplies giant OfficeMax. He has also spent time as an independent consultant, and for the past 12 years has been a trustee of the Te Puru Charitable Trust, helping with the development of arts, culture and education in East Auckland.

I was born in Somerset, England, and grew up in a little country cottage. My father was a farm labourer; he didn’t get paid particularly well and worked long hours. Back then, they still had horses that pulled ploughs, and a steam engine for threshing hay. He had been working on a farm since he was 12.

We moved to NZ because dad wanted to improve his lot in life. He knew he wouldn’t make much progress in the UK.

I was 10 when we moved to a place called Whenuakite, near Hot Water Beach and Hahei on the Coromandel – a beautiful place. My mother hated it. She spent her first five years in NZ wanting to go back home because the nearest shops were a 20-minute drive and a ferry ride away. 

For me, it was a wonderful introduction to NZ. We were poor, but we were happy. We didn’t have much money, but I had my bike, and I would ride to the beach and catch fish. My first catch was an octopus, which for this little British kid was just unbelievable. 

We moved around a lot as my dad took on different farm labouring jobs. I think I went to 10 different primary schools here. 

When we were at one farm, the local supermarket used to bring out unwanted products. One year, we got a huge load of Christmas puddings and Christmas cakes. I remember eating them every day for a long time. I took two slices of Christmas pudding with butter in between for my school lunch. So I’m not a great fan of Christmas cake any more.

I was a good student and originally wanted to be a doctor. But I missed my bursary exam benchmark by a few marks. 

As a result, I ended up doing a BSc, but spent too much of my time on student radio and dropped out after a couple of years. I realised I would never get a degree. 

Eventually, I went back to England and settled in the West Country. I looked for a sales job, as I always knew I could sell stuff. I found a job selling office products, which was never my dream, but I did it really well. 

Five years later, two of my colleagues and I set up a business, which grew rapidly over 12 years. I used to lie awake at night worrying that I owed £1 million to suppliers. It was a fantastic learning experience.

Starting a business from scratch, creating employment for 80 people, and then selling it to an American company was the most amazing experience, and one of my proudest achievements. 

We had an absolute blowout to celebrate the sale, eating wonderful seafood and great French wine on a trip to Jersey. My wife went shopping and bought a load of things, like a diamond ring. It was the first time in my life that I had real money in my pocket. We toured the beaches and had a great time. 

Kevin Obern in 2009 in OfficeMax’s then-new environmentally friendly HQ, with lots of natural light, in the Highbrook business park in Auckland. (Image: NZME)

 At OfficeMax, I’ve been most proud of our sustainability journey. We were in there early, looking at the impact we had on the environment, how it affected the rainforests, and everything else. We’ve been on a sustainability journey for two decades, and not a lot of businesses have. 

My best piece of business advice would be to remember that change comes in different forms. Technology has changed. People and their expectations change. You have to be connected to what’s coming next and try to be prepared. You can’t rest on your laurels and think that what you did for the last five years will be good enough for next week. 

I’m an open, friendly, humorous but impatient person. I just want to get things done. But I love being around people, in the workplace, and socially. 

My wife and I love entertaining, but there’s another bit of me that loves the serenity of isolation. 

We live in East Auckland but are fortunate enough to have a place on the Coromandel. Surfing is still like therapy. I also love getting out there on my jet-ski – just me with a fishing rod in the water, the sun on my face and, hopefully, some fish biting. If I’m ever feeling stressed, bobbing around the Pacific Ocean is my happy place. 

As told to Daniel Dunkley.

This interview has been edited for clarity.