Alan Gibbs’ lifetime of entrepreneurship was recognised last year when the serial inventor was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.
Since the 1990s Gibbs has developed 11 different automobiles and has more than 50 patents in his name.
Earlier, he studied engineering and economics at the University of Canterbury and Victoria University, before making his first modest fortune in real estate in Sydney in the early 1970s and his first million dollars in 1981, shortly after he turned 40, from corporate takeovers.
He was heavily involved in restructuring businesses including Freightways Ltd, Ceramco, Bendon, Atlas Majestic Industries and, most significantly, Telecom Corporation of New Zealand – helping broker the privatisation of state-owned companies in New Zealand against significant public opposition.
The newer enterprises he helped establish were New Zealand’s first pay-TV channel, Sky TV, and the development of Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour.
These days London-based Gibbs is behind the AmphiCab, an amphibious vehicle designed to help the wealthy use the Thames to evade London road congestion. He also unveiled amphibious two and three wheeled motorbikes at the American International Motorcycle Expo held in Florida late last year - motorcycles you can ride straight into the water.
Gibbs is one of New Zealand’s leading art collectors and has established the internationally acclaimed Gibbs Farm in Kaipara, which is claimed to be the world’s largest outdoor sculpture park.
2018: $580 million