From modest beginnings in small-town New Zealand to becoming one of the country’s most successful young business owners, Kiwi entrepreneur Izzy Whitley’s journey is a compelling tale of resilience and ambition. While many may envy his success, Whitley’s path has been marked by profound challenges — from losing his father to suicide when he was just 20 years old, to discovering a severe heart condition soon thereafter. Yet, he possesses an innate positivity that seems to propel him forward in a way we rarely encounter. Now, at just 30 years old, Whitley is running a company turning over forty million dollars in annual revenue, and as the business expands into Australia, it’s clear that this is just the beginning.

Izzy Whitley was always destined to do big things. When we meet on a Thursday morning at the beginning of October, he’s just touched down in Auckland on his 124th flight of the year (his weeks are spent between his company’s offices scattered across the country and Auckland, where he ostensibly lives — despite having not spent a full week at home all year). Hard work, I quickly discover, is Whitley’s modus operandi. And, while there were many paths he could have followed, ultimately, his success was sure to lie in harnessing his penchant for progress to bolster the careers of others. 

Growing up in Gisborne in a heavily Christian family of six, Whitley had a strict but love-filled childhood and, as the baby of the family, no shortage of mentors. Whitley’s dad was the caretaker at the local school, his mother — between raising her four children, worked with the IHC and helped out at the girl’s high school. Both instilled in him industriousness from a young age, “Work ethic was always a big thing in my family growing up, from as young as I can remember,” he tells me, adding, “There were no treats or rewards for chores growing up. We were told to do it because we were lucky to have a roof over our heads. And I think that was a really cool lesson early on.” I’m inclined to agree, seeing what incredible stead his strict-but-fair upbringing put him in. 

His first job, at age 12, was mowing the lawns at the local girl’s high school, which he jests was a pretty good gig at that age. Around the same time, he began playing competitive football — a decision that would ultimately lead to the most foundational years of his life. “I wasn’t allowed to play football with people that weren’t Christian until I was around 12, when the whole church thing eased up a little bit,” he tells me in his easy way, adding that, as it happened, he was pretty good at kicking a ball, and ended up landing a sporting scholarship to Westlake Boys at 16. “A lot has happened in the last decade,” muses Whitley, “But those two years at Westlake were probably the most defining of my life.”

“He talks of his father’s death prompting him to put his head down and go in whichever direction he could to move forward.”

Looking back, he attributes this to two factors — getting out of Gisborne (and the trouble he was starting to get into there) and putting some distance between himself and his dad who, he tells me, he had a pretty tense relationship with at that stage, “[Dad and I] were so alike, so we knew how to wind each other up. Moving out of home was the best thing for our relationship.”

After a few years of chasing the football dream, Whitley called time, “I was never one of the good ones in the team,” he says with a laugh, adding that he loved it more for what it afforded him than for the game itself. After school, he took on a building apprenticeship, which not only sparked a love for what would eventually become the initial basis for his now-wildly successful business, but — perhaps more importantly, rekindled his relationship with his dad, who was a builder in his youth, “It was cool doing the building thing because Dad and I all of a sudden had something in common and something to bond over.” 

Unfortunately, the apprenticeship was short-lived. A shoulder injury meant that Whitley needed surgery and it was tools-down for nine months, “I called Dad to tell him that, since I couldn’t build for a while, I was going to give university a go,” he tells me, adding that, tragically, that phone call ended up being the last conversation he would ever have with his dad. Whitley lost his father to suicide at the end of 2014, changing the course of his life irrevocably. 

He talks of his father’s death prompting him to put his head down and go in whichever direction he could to move forward. He enrolled in university and began working towards a business degree alongside keeping up with his apprenticeship, eager to build a life his father would be proud of. Yet, life threw another curveball: the then-21-year-old was rushed to hospital with several suspected heart attacks. “My heart issues added another whole dimension to what was already an incredibly challenging time,” he reflects, “It was a huge mental battle.”

But, as I’ve quickly come to learn about Whitley, overcoming adversity is one of his greatest strengths, and it was ultimately the weeks that followed — spent in the hospital, that gave him the headspace to conceive the idea that would change the trajectory of not only his career, but also his life. 

At the time he was admitted to hospital, Whitley was grafting — working tirelessly on a building site chipping away at his apprenticeship, and trying to complete a degree in tandem. “I knew my boss on the site was making a few bucks off me,” Whitley recalls. Hauled up on bed rest with nothing but time to think, he realised that he could side-step his boss and up his income, “I thought that, instead of him taking a cut, why couldn’t I do what he was doing, and hire myself out directly.” It was a call with Whitley’s sister, Sarah, who is 13 years his senior and like “another Mum,” that gave him the confidence to go out on his own. “She said, oh, kid, if anyone’s going to do it, it’ll be you. Go for it.” He tells me that, had she turned around and said it was a bad idea; he would have swerved it, given how much weight her opinion carries.

He took the plunge, and before long, he wasn’t just hiring himself out, but other contractors too — planting the seed that would eventually bloom into Aotearoa Labour Hire (ALH), Whitley’s now-multi-million dollar-yielding temporary recruitment company.

As the business grew, Whitley was still muddling his way through university, until he met a crossroads. “I remember going into one of my last exams at uni, and my phone was blowing up. It was a call for labourers down in Wellington (I had about 20 people out working at that stage), and I turned to my lecturer and said, mate, I think I’ve got a better chance of making this gig work than uni,” he recounts, “And the lecturer said, I think you’re right.” So Whitley up and left, having thrown all of himself at ALH from that moment onwards. 

Whitley possesses an incredible ability to hyper-focus, which, coupled with his indeterminable drive, has proved a winning formula indeed. The first few years of ALH’s success was down to a mix of strategic digital marketing — the “only useful thing” he says he learned at university — sheer dedication, and a boots-on-the-ground approach, with Whitley known for his weekly drops of beer and pizza on building sites and countless hours spent on the tools himself, plugging gaps to prove the businesses’ reliability. 

It was a relative naivety — in both the fundamentals of business and the ways of the world — that ended up being the young entrepreneur’s secret weapon, “I didn’t study our competitors or even know who they were,” he tells me earnestly, “I just went for it, doing things the way I thought they should be done.” He continues, “I didn’t even know I was in recruitment for two years. I just thought of it as labour hire, and it took a mate asking me about the recruitment business to realise that’s what we were doing.” 

It strikes me, as our conversation runs on, that Whitley’s life can almost be broken down into a handful of big, pivotal, watershed moments that have punctuated his timeline and shaped his trajectory. Meeting business magnate Rob Fyfe was one such event. 

Whitley was introduced to Fyfe through an ex-girlfriend in 2017, and they hit it off immediately. “Rob says he liked my energy and outlook,” Whitley shares. Fyfe has been an incredible mentor to him ever since, and has supported him in growing ALH into the industry leader it stands as today. “With Rob, he knows that I’m going to listen to his advice and interpret what he’s got to say — and put it into practice within 24 hours. And I think that energises him, and it energises me.” He recalls a pivotal moment that Fyfe was instrumental in driving ALH’s growth, “I rang Rob one day because I had an offer — someone wanted to buy 49% of the business for $25k. I called Rob and said, mate, this is a great deal.” Fyfe’s response? “He said to me, you can get this business to 30 million in revenue,” and, as it would transpire, his instincts were bang-on.

“It goes without saying that I didn’t take the deal,” Whitley states with relief, “Six months later, Rob and his wife Sara ended up investing in ALH, and then Jonty Edgar invested six months after that.” Within a year, this buy-in saw the company with $300k of working capital, which went straight back into the business’ expansion. “We kind of just went for it,” says Whitley. Rob Fyfe now chairs the ALH Board.

Covid naturally slowed things down, with the building industry taking a substantial hit, but — as seems to be a recurring thread in Whitley’s life, he turned adversity into opportunity, “Off the back of Covid, I realised everyone was kind of asleep at the wheel. I thought, what better time to expand than when everyone else is being hesitant.” That bold decision’s pay-off has been immense. ALH was bringing in $30 million in annual revenue mid-way through 2023, and as they expand into Australia, that number is creeping closer to $40 million. But, if you ask Whitley, he’ll tell you they’re just getting started. “$100 million is my goal for ALH currently,” he states pragmatically, adding that this incredible growth has only been possible thanks to the proficient team he’s built around himself. 

Indeed, Whitley would never take full credit for the company’s success, and shies away from lofty titles — and the spotlight. When I make mention of the fact that the internet is flooded with articles referring to him as one of New Zealand’s most successful young business owners, he bats the inference away immediately, telling me that, for him, there are other titles he’d prefer, “I just want to be known for running the best company to work at in New Zealand,” he states with a smile, “I want to create an environment that is incredibly nurturing, supportive and focuses massively on development.” Based on the company’s exponential growth and staff retention rates, I think he’s meeting his mark. 

Ambition doesn’t come without sacrifice, and these days, Whitley rarely has a spare moment to himself. His life is on a consistently tight schedule to keep things running smoothly, but one thing he will always make time for is maintaining his health. The business owner usually works a 12-hour day, bookended with a workout at 5am and a wholesome meal in the evening. Gym classes, he tells me, feel like an escape from the constant decision making his role demands, “It’s one hour of my day where someone else is running things for me. I can just go in, switch off, and join in with the rest of the crew, which is refreshing.” He acknowledges there’s little semblance of work-life balance at this stage in his life, but that’s by design — not obligation, and there’ll be time to slow down in the future.

“Selling means success to a lot of people, but that’s not what I’m looking for. It’s the purpose that drives me.”

For now, Whitley has a singular objective: growing ALH into a $100 million business. And fast. “That’s my unwavering goal,” he states with ardour, “I’ve got a little sticky note above the light switch beside the door at home that says 100 mil. Inside my EarPods case, I’ve written 100 mil. Everything I do is just constantly working towards that goal.” 

But Whitley wants to make clear that, while he’s reaching for a goal with a dollar figure attached to it, it’s not the cash he’s after — it’s what that figure represents. “People always ask if I want to sell, and that’s never been of interest to me,” he says matter-of-factly. “I’m passionate about growing this business and developing my team. Selling means success to some people, but that’s not what I’m looking for. It’s the purpose that drives me.”

Whitley credits his father for this tenacity and zealousness. “Dad always said, ‘Stay in the fight,’ and I live by that.” But, while his father’s lasting influence is evident, Whitley’s humility, effortless optimism, and integrity are uniquely his own — all of which I’m sure will continue to set him up for success long into the future.