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.
Patrick Moynahan has owned Computer Recycling, one of NZ's largest processors of electronic waste, since 2018, and in the past four years, the company has saved millions of tonnes from going into landfill. His passion for eliminating e-waste goes back much further, however, and saw him travel all over the world to find the best recycling solutions. The average Kiwi produces 20kg of e-waste a year, which is one of the highest amounts per capita on Earth. It's estimated that, worldwide, 80,000 tonnes of e-waste is produced a year, but only 2% of it is recycled. When he’s not at work alongside his dad, Michael, Computer Recycling’s general manager, Moynahan spends quality time at home with his partner, Stacey, and baby Max.
I had a very happy childhood. I was born in Auckland to lovely parents, have one brother, and grew up very close to my extended family – my three aunts and uncles, grandparents and all of their children.
I went to school in Epsom and enjoyed my schooling right through. I had learning difficulties – dyslexia – which caused me a lot of frustration. But I had very supportive parents who helped me along the way.
I didn't have any real desire or want when I was a kid – or even, really, when I was a teenager. I just wanted control of my life and freedom, and I saw that I could get that by concentrating on business or something through which I could generate income to allow me to do the things I wanted to do.
I went to university at 17 and graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing and advertising when I was 20. Then I started working for an advertising agency; that was when I got a real burst of drive.
Patrick Moynahan after climbing Africa's highest mountain. (Image: Supplied)When I was 20, I thought I’d give running long distances a go, and then I got into mountain climbing. I can't really pinpoint what it was that drove me. When I first started climbing, I thought I’d tackle Aoraki/Mt Cook. But they wouldn’t let me climb it unless I had a certain amount of experience, so I went and did a 10-day alpine technical mountaineering course. I found that quite inspiring.
Climbing became my focus for three to four years. I decided I'd climb the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each of the seven traditional continents). First, I travelled to Africa and climbed Mt Kilimanjaro and some other mountains around there. Then I went to the Andes and climbed Aconcagua and a heap of other mountains as well. I also went to the French Alps and climbed Mont Blanc.
On Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe. (Image: Supplied)Mindset is very important. I have a degree of tunnel vision that not everyone will instinctively have. I think that helped me particularly to get the business off the ground.
I go into everything expecting the best and take the path of least resistance. Every time, there are a lot of hurdles, but as long as you document the goal well enough, plan, and use your support network, although there will be a heap of stress you will achieve your goal one way or the other.
The thing I'm most proud of is getting the business to where it is now. This includes the purchase of other businesses, the onboarding of some really key and interesting people, and the commissioning of the Penrose (Auckland) plant and equipment.
Patrick Moynahan in Computer Recycling's warehouse in Auckland. (Image: Supplied)I’m also pretty proud that I managed to get our recycling machinery to New Zealand. I had to do a lot of research. I flew to Australia first, to find out who the manufacturer was, then I contacted him in France and finally went and met him in Italy.
When I found out where the products to be recycled were going, I went to those locations to figure out how they were being processed back into the raw commodities. I then came back to NZ and made a business case to present to the government on how we could recycle those products here.
The government rejected it initially, so I went back to the drawing board and reframed it, and that was successful. I feel like I've done that in lots of different scenarios. I'm proud of that, and of it all culminating in the company operating as a successful business.
The company's base in Southpark Place, Penrose. (Image: Supplied) What I want to do is develop more NZ-based processing of equipment and material, because we definitely need it. We currently rely so much on exports. Not all of it can be done here – we just don't have the economy of scale – but we do need more recycling capability.
You should have key objectives as to what will move the dial in your success and what are the key things that are going to give you the largest multiples of success, and then spend the majority of your time just concentrating on those. I believe that helps level your stress out.
Exercise would have to be one of the best ways to manage stress. Sleep is another one – it's just so critical to my own personal stress levels.
My favourite thing about NZ is how close we are to everything. We're so close to the water, hills, ski fields and farming. It's a small island nation and I like the concept of that as it means individuals like me can have the potential to make a really meaningful market impact in quite a short time. The likelihood of my doing that is higher here than if I were in America or Europe.
