The Moodie Davitt Report brings you the latest instalment in our popular series Ten Easy Pieces*, in which we get up close and personal with leading travel retail personalities via ten snapshot questions.
Meet Distell Managing Director Travel Luke Maga, the ex-golf pro whose life-changing “right road” decision took him into the world of travel retail.
1. Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Newcastle, a coastal town in New South Wales, Australia. I went to school there and eventually on to university.
My early memories of growing up in a coastal town are of spending a lot of time at the beach – no matter what time of year – as well as camping, one thing I cannot bring myself to do anymore. I turned into a very good beach bum in my youth when surfing was far more appealing than school. But, my parents put me back in my place and convinced me that education was important.
Growing up, our family house backed onto a public golf course so as soon as I could jump the fence – I would have been about three – I began playing with friends and with my father, who cut down a set of his old clubs for me.
2. So your young life revolved around sport?
Yes, teenage life was very focused around sport. During high school years I dabbled in other sports but golf was my main passion which I believe came from my father and grandmother who were very keen golfers.
At the age of 13 I was playing off a single figure handicap and by 16 playing off scratch. I used to play a couple of holes after school and played competitively in state teams throughout my teenage years. The goal was to try and make a living from playing.
I was fortunate to have an opportunity to do a three-year apprenticeship with the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) at a private golf course in Sydney which enabled me to study at the same time. I graduated from Griffith University with a vocational degree in Marketing & Accounting.
3. And you aimed to become a professional golfer?
That was the plan. Golf took me to the USA and throughout Asia, easy travelling then as I was single and had limited responsibilities. A sportsman’s life is good on paper but the lifestyle can get in the way. I made a nice living for a few years but it was not sustainable for the lifestyle I envisioned; I was travelling the world and spending more money than I made.
In 2001 I relocated to Sydney and while playing a pro-am was introduced to a gentleman who was looking for someone to work part time as a promoter for Maxxium at Sydney Airport. In my earlier days spent working in retail, I had always enjoyed selling so I thought I’d give it a go for a couple of months to get some funding to play golf a little more. Those months turned into three years. The early morning starts allowed me to play golf in the afternoon which was a great bonus as I could enjoy both passions.
“I was approaching a time in my life when I needed to look at making a steady income; there was a fork in the road and I took the right road”
4. Was that your first taste of the world of travel retail?
Yes, it was, and it wasn’t long before I realised that I quite liked the idea of it. Being able to travel to amazing parts of the world and meet interesting people had a lot of appeal. When it got to 2004, I was approaching a time in my life when I needed to look at making a steady income; there was a fork in the road and I took the right road, moving to Maxxium’s corporate office to head up the Australian duty free market. That was my first permanent position in travel retail.
The nine-to-five job meant I could still play golf at some events but my passion at that point was coaching. I was an Assistant Pro at Avondale and gave lessons in the evenings and at the weekends.
I met my wife Bec in 2006. She was working with DFS at the time in New Zealand and I guess the rest is history. We started a working relationship and then our daughter Annika was born two years later.
In 2009 I joined Beam Global as Regional Licensing & Global Travel Retail Manager Australia/Pacific Islands, still based in Sydney, but I’d moved to Manly to get back close to the ocean and for more of a suburban family lifestyle. Beach lifestyle was important to Bec and I; it was a good life, especially bringing up Annika.
But I woke up one day and realised I was just going through the motions; I decided I needed to expand my wings and look for a new challenge.
5. And that decision took you where?
In 2011, when Annika was two and a half, we decided to pack up our house and move to Hong Kong. Bec had never been there before and I had only been once so it was going to be an adventure. Our aim was to set up our own business, specialising in retail design and manufacturing of outlets in airports, and it operated very successfully for six years.
Hong Kong was appealing for us as it has a fast-paced lifestyle, with close connections to anywhere in Asia. We also had some great friends that were already living in Hong Kong.
We were quick to settle into the Hong Kong lifestyle and enjoyed our time there. Annika was thrown into the deep end by attending a local Chinese school in Sai Kung with only two lessons a week in English, the rest were in Cantonese. As for my Cantonese, well I mainly learnt words that I wasn’t supposed to! However this allowed us to have some amazing experiences and kept me within the travel retail family.
As life was perhaps a little too good in Hong Kong, my wife told me politely that I was slightly heavier than when she first met me, so my sporting focus changed from golf to cycling and triathlons, including a few Ironman events to keep me healthy.
I’m a competitive person so I revelled in the challenge of doing more than just cycling. I’m also a Taurus which means I’m stubborn and like to get my own way.
Training took me through some beautiful areas of Hong Kong, including Lantau and Kowloon where there’s the most amazing mountain scenery. The mountain area of Hong Kong is a well-kept secret. It is also home to some of the most dangerous snakes in the world.
6. What prompted your involvement with Distell?
We had been in Hong Kong for two years when Marius Fouche [Distell International Taiwan Managing Director] approached me about setting up an Asia Pacific GTR business. I accepted the challenge and joined Distell as the General Manager for Asia Pacific Travel Retail; meanwhile my wife continued with our business as well as working for Ralph Lauren. I was super excited not only because the position got me back on the commercial side but also because it meant I had the opportunity to go to South Africa and work on a portfolio with enormous potential.
After a few years managing the Asia Pacific market I had no real plans to move from Hong Kong until an opportunity came up during a holiday to South Africa. My boss at the time had just resigned so I was asked if I was interested in moving to Cape Town to become Managing Director of Travel Retail. My wife and I considered the lifestyle in a city of 20 million people compared with the open spaces of South Africa and jumped at the chance. So, we filled a container or two and, within a few months, we arrived.
It’s fair to say that none of our relocations have really been planned; they’re always spontaneous.
Distell’s travel retail division was still relatively young in 2014 but it was clear there was huge potential, with the company being the largest wine and cider producer in Africa and having employees who are passionate about the brands.
7. Would you describe yourself as an innate adventurer?
Before the move to South Africa, I looked at the importance of experiencing a different lifestyle. My wife and I wanted it and we wanted it for our daughter… what better place for adventure than Africa?
On a personal level I was determined to experience the real South Africa, its farming, the outdoors, coastal lifestyle and the country’s values. New World wine is small but there are some beautiful varietals in South Africa and as a family we aimed to visit one wine farm each weekend.
There are also some great olive farms over there. One in particular, in the Durbanville Hills farm, where the workers collect the olives and proceeds go back to the local community comes to mind. We enjoyed small farm markets and some amazing food.
One of the things we loved about South Africa is that Sundays are all about family time. We would make the most of it by regularly having a BBQ or ‘braai’ and enjoying spending time together, which was always accompanied with a glass of wine.
Of course, another personal challenge was cycling and mountain biking over there. I completed the Cape Epic twice. That’s a thrilling race which takes you to places in the Western Cape that are certainly untouched with amazing beauty. I loved every minute of it. The last one was probably the most competitive event I have ever done; I trained for months and it took its toll on my body – and family life. It didn’t help that I raced with a guy 15 years younger than me, however we finished in a great position overall.
As my family and I don’t like to sit still, we have just begun another adventure, in the UK. We moved to London on 22 December last year with our visas not being approved until the morning of the day we flew out… nothing like the last minute!
We like to do things on the spur of the moment but that wasn’t so easy as we had Weetbix to consider as well.
8. Weetbix, the breakfast cereal?
No, Weetbix our fluffy family member. She is the bane of my life. A small Spoodle, bought for my daughter as a present for Easter just three weeks before we moved to Hong Kong. You might ask why she’s named Weetbix? Well, it was my daughter’s favourite food at the time.
She is the most well-travelled dog, now living in her fourth country and loving the UK. She’s very happy running around Richmond Park or chasing ducks on the Thames but her burst of energy only lasts a few minutes as she’s older now. The open spaces near where we live have given her a new lease of life, at least.
She is a dog with real character and has all of us wrapped around her paws. She made herself at home on the first night in the UK when she sat on a chair at the pub. The only thing that was missing was a pint.
9. Do you have a favourite brand within the Distell portfolio?
That’s a difficult question to answer as all the brands, from our wines to our whiskies, have huge potential and are still relatively young. The fact that Distell’s portfolio has amazing opportunities for growth is what gets me out of bed each day.
That said, it’s hard to not love Amarula. The brand is still in its early days as far as global development is concerned and we’re still finding new routes to market; the only way is up for Amarula.
Amarula has a fascinating story. The marula fruit only grows in the subequatorial plain of Africa and only ripens in February until late March. What a lot of people don’t realise is that the trees grow in the wild; they can’t be lined up and harvested as normal fruit trees. A local tribe has to help collect the fruit and the male trees don’t give off fruit, so they are used for medicinal purposes within the tribe.
The plan is to develop Distell as a true global brand and the growth opportunities are huge, as is the scope of the Amarula Trust. Did you know that one elephant dies every 25 minutes?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWjztBb2ilY
Amarula and its charity arm, Amarula Trust, are really trying to raise awareness of the plight of the African elephants because at the rate it’s going they will be extinct by 2030. It’s scary to think that my daughter’s family might never even see an African elephant. Can you imagine?
10. What is the Luke Maga philosophy on life?
I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to live in so many different countries, meet incredibly interesting people, to travel the world and to experience lots of different cultures. I’ve been able to take a little bit from each place to grow as a person.
It’s also important to Bec and I that Annika experiences life outside of the bubble that people are supposed to stay in which will only make her stronger.
Family time and sport are incredibly important to me and help keep me sane. I cycle to work every day from Chiswick to Richmond and every weekend for about four to five hours. I have only had one accident so far, when someone ran into me one morning. I’m planning to do more road bike racing in Europe and will take part in a couple of races in the Pyrenees in summer, which should be a lot of fun.
I enjoy music and invested in a record player during a visit to Singapore two years ago. The ambition is to have a nice vinyl library collection and so far I’ve collected records from numerous artists including The Beatles, Abba, Michael Jackson, Ed Sheeran and Queen. Annika is jumping on the passion and I want her to appreciate ‘real’ music and the way it should be.
Art is another passion of mine. Bec and I bought a lot of works of art from local people whilst in South Africa, Hong Kong and numerous other parts of the world. They, along with pieces from our holidays – we seem to come back with a lot more things than we can fit in our cases – are all in storage for our ideal house, wherever that is and whenever that will be.
I just keep on collecting and enjoying life… and taking a little bit of each of the cultures with me.
My philosophy? Well that’s to step back and enjoy the ‘now’; to strive to get out of the comfort zone as only then you can start to enjoy life.
*PREVIOUSLY FEATURED TEN EASY PIECES PERSONALITIES INCLUDE:
Meet Wonderful Pistachios Director of Sales Global Travel Retail James Kfouri
Meet Mars International Travel Retail General Manager Gary Clarke
Meet Maui Jim Senior Duty Free Sales Director Giles Marks
Meet Duty Free Development Consulting Founder and CEO David Dayan
Meet Victorinox Head of Travel Retail Thomas Bodenmann
Meet Duty Free Global Founder Barry Geoghegan
Meet Swiss Eyewear Group Business Development and Travel Retail Director Rebecca Harwood Lincoln