As a young boy, Connor O’Rourke had a passion for technology as he watched his father work in Silicon Valley. From the age of nine Connor was working in the family business and building PCs in the school holidays.

At 36, he has since partnered with his brother and turned his love of technology into IT solutions business Nuago.

The company has grown from a start-up funded by the re-financing of O’Rourke’s home to a company with 60 staff and a projected $23m revenue for this financial year.

The growth helped him land the Entrepreneurial Award, presented by William Buck to an outstanding lateral business thinker and risk taker exhibiting entrepreneurial flair.

This growth has been driven by O’Rourke’s strong set of personal beliefs that drive how he operates.

“These values never change whether I am at home with my wife and beautiful daughters (who are my world) or in a board room with highly accomplished CEOs,” O’Rourke said.

“I believe that people are able to recognise authenticity. It develops trust, it encourages honesty and it promotes loyalty. The three most highly valued traits I hold.”

O’Rourke said he plans to grow Nuago to well over 100 staff in a South Australia headquarters to scale the business across Australia.

“South Australia is often tarred with a brush as the ‘fly-over’ state or people from the east coast often speak poorly about what we do in SA,” O’Rourke said.

“I would like to do my part in changing that false and negative viewpoint about our incredible achievements here in South Australia.”

O’Rourke said one of the largest lessons and takeaways from growing the business is “stay humble, stay gritty”.

“When you have success out of the gates that can make you take your focus off of what is important, and is important to have challenges on the journey to keep you grounded in what is important,” he said.

“Be human as a leader, be humble as a leader and always remember that it is a people sport.

“Have some fun, otherwise why are you doing it in the first place? Life is too short to do something you don’t enjoy.”

It’s not all about business, though. Nuago contributes to Lifeline Australia and the Childhood Cancer Association with continual engagement in charity fundraising and sustainability efforts.

O’Rourke said he aims to eventually pivot his focus from the business to philanthropy and mentoring “the next generation of future entrepreneurs in our great state”.