‘First Among Equals’: South Australian entrepreneur Dr Catherine Harper

^{Caption: Dr Catherine Harper receiving her ‘First Among Equals’ 40 Under 40 Award. Credit: Morgan Sette.}

Since the early days of veterinary school, South Australian veterinarian Dr Catherine Harper always wanted to own a business. Now, as the owner of the Barossa Veterinary Service (BVS) since 2016, she is the driving force behind a business that’s enjoying phenomenal growth – turnover has increased five-fold – and leads an expanding veterinary team united by commitment, compassion and community.

Her entrepreneurial skills and reputation as a changemaker have led to her recognition in the recent South Australian 40 Under 40 Awards, which acknowledge the movers and shakers of the young business world. Catherine was also presented with the ‘First Among Equals’ Award, as the finalist who best embodies the 40 Under 40 program.

For Catherine, what started out as a plan for financial security quickly evolved into an exciting opportunity to grow a business and create something impressive for the community. Ultimately, however, it’s about building a team and a place where people want to come to work and stay in the industry. “Those things have far surpassed the financial elements of the motivation,” said Catherine.

Catherine adds, “My goal is to keep people in veterinary science, and I think there are more and more like-minded people around who recognise that we have to run better businesses. People don’t leave vet science because they don’t like vet science. Mostly they leave because the workplaces they’re in are not accommodating or structured in a way that allows them in be successful. I really want to help businesses be run better, because I firmly believe that’s going to keep veterinary staff in our profession.”

Running a rural veterinary clinic where access to specialists and emergency centres can be challenging, Catherine is passionate about playing to the strengths of her team, supporting them to be excellent GPs and facilitating them to pursue areas of special interest.

The BVS team of 35 spans 3 clinics and, with a new hospital facility build underway, Catherine has plenty to keep her busy around the clock. This didn’t stop her from taking on the South Australian Division Presidency with the AVA earlier this year. Catherine’s hopeful the growth she’s enjoyed with BVS will be replicated in the group. “We’re trying to build the AVA presence back up in South Australia and ensure we’re doing things that are important to our members. It’s a challenge at the moment as we only have 3 of us on the committee, so there’s not a huge amount of manpower. But we’ve had some really good wins in the last few months, and we’ve been able to get the branches established, which means that we’ve got a couple of events in the pipeline to start this reengagement process.”

^{Caption: Dr Catherine Harper with husband Josh and daughter Isabelle at the awards evening. Credit Morgan Sette.}

Catherine is clearly drawn to serving her community, not only through the AVA, but as an engaged local business owner. That might look like sponsoring local netballers, scouts, football teams and the local musical society; or working with council to provide school holiday events at the library; or supplying pet food for those in need, to make sure their pets are being fed appropriately with good quality food. While the 40 Under 40 Award recognition helps keep her motivated, Catherine wants to use it as a catalyst to encourage her peers to consider applying for similar awards in their community. “I know my clinic is not the only one that does these types of community activities, there are many that do more than me. We should be putting [this good work] out there, to help improve any negative perceptions of us in the community. I would love for others to think about applying for these types of awards, because we do really cool things and we should be recognised for it.”

As a young but experienced vet and successful business owner, Catherine has some clear advice for those in the early stages of their career: “My advice for a young graduate would be to focus solely on consulting and getting good at talking to people. Surgery workup – the things that we would consider ‘fun stuff’ – will come and is part of the job. But if you can run a good consult and talk to clients, day one is going to be a lot easier – indeed, the first 6 months is going to be a lot easier.”

She adds, “It’s where the magic happens. Because if you can’t get the owner on board with what their animal needs, it doesn’t matter how good your veterinary team are, the client’s not going to say yes to the procedure you’re recommending. I feel the clinical reasoning and communication skill set in the consult is the most valuable thing that you can graduate with, because the rest you can learn later.”

Congratulations Catherine on your well-deserved recognition and thank you for all your work to develop AVA activities in South Australia. South Australian members are encouraged to keep an eye out for upcoming events and news in the AVA’s monthly Division eNews, or the AVA’s fortnightly Education and Events CPD update.