Austral Herbs

Greenstorm Foods

Managing Director

Greenstorm Capital

Greenstorm Capital is an entrepreneur-led single-acquisition investment fund (aka 'Search Fund') with a group of experienced business mentors & investors, looking to acquire an Australian business to operate for the long term.

Australia's first female-led traditional search fund - Search begun in January 2022 for a great Australian-based SME with EBITDA between $2-5M in a stable industry. With Paige leading as CEO and ambitions to grow over a 5-10 year period.

Greenstorm Capital was renamed to Greenstorm Foods and acquired Austral Herbs in April 2023

Founder/Entrepreneur (Searcher)

Epilepsy Action Australia

Operational management of well-established not-for-profit organisation based in Sydney with nation-wide operations. Leading technological advancements and process developments.

Presented to the Board on General Management & Operations, Finance, HR, Fundraising & Education departments and Special projects. Reported to the Finance, Audit, Compliance & Risk Committee.

Implemented 2 new CRMs across Fundraising and Client Services. Saving in excess of $500K | Revised financial reporting inc. re-designed chart of accounts | Updated financial and compliance reporting | Managed fundraising initiatives | Managed remote working project

Operations Manager

Antares Solutions

Sydney-based Microsoft IT Consulting Firm with ~50 staff. 
Finance | HR & People | Internal Processes | Internal Systems | Inter-Department Processes | Internal Recruitment | Office Management | Accountable for Organisational Efficiency

Part of 6-person Leadership team | Process & System development focus | Working within the EOS framework for strategy and business improvement | Implemented Employee system BambooHR and improved Recruitment, Onboarding, Employee/Manager communications and Performance Management across the business.

Longtail UX Pty Ltd

Company Secretary

Career FAQs

Airbrushing Around

Airbrush Face Painting & Tattoos for events, corporate, sporting clubs etc.
Owner/Operator:  Business Operations | Managing/Training Staff 15+ Casuals | Supply Management, Stock control | Marketing: Flyers, Website etc

Founder/Operator

WebPaige Designs

Basic HTML Web Design with Dreamweaver | Graphic Design for Print and Online using Adobe Suite | Target Market: Sole Traders & Small Businesses 

Achievements:
●	Designed, developed & maintained 12+ websites
●	Learnt key skills for communicating and managing expectations with a variety of clients
●	How to create a sales pipeline and generate own business

Designer

Encore Beauty

Office Manager

Founder at Greenstorm Capital

Co-Owner of Greenstorm Foods, CEO of Austral Herbs - Australia's leading Organic Herbs & Spices import & wholesale distributor, for over 25 years.

As Australia's first female-led Traditional Search fund, Greenstorm Capital, was founded in 2022 to find and acquire a business in Australia. Acquiring Austral Herbs in 2023, I'm currently focused on continuing the owner’s legacy and transitioning the business into its next stage of growth.

Passionate about leading great team with great processes and making a great business more than what's on paper.

A year ago, we moved into our new factory.

I knew it would be better.

But I could never have imagined it would feel this right.

When we first unpacked, we were still sharing the space with tradespeople, saws buzzing, jackhammers echoing, for almost four months straight.

We were still figuring out compliance paperwork and still configuring shelving [and yes, still doing that a year later].

We cycled through more staff than we expected, but we were determined to find the right people, the ones who’d be here for the long haul.

And I’m confident we’ve got them now.

Twelve months in, the shelves are sturdier, the layout flows, and the team feels stronger than ever.

There’s still plenty to build [literally and figuratively] but standing here today, I can see the future more clearly than ever before.

Here’s to one year down, and many more to come in a space that finally feels like home 🎉

#PostAcquisitionLeadership #PeopleFirstLeadership #OperationalExcellence #SmallBusinessLeadership #SearchFund #BusinessGrowth

Paige Kohalmont

So you bought a business… now what? I share lessons on leadership, team-building & making post-acquisition ownership less chaotic | CEO at Austral Herbs

Most deals fall apart long before anyone realises why.

Before I bought Austral Herbs, I assumed the seller and I were aligned on what the handover involved. 

But there were a few areas where we hadn’t quite synced up.

I quickly learned that many sellers don’t realise how much working capital a buyer needs on day one. 

Payroll doesn’t pause. 
Suppliers don’t wait. 
Customers still expect stock on shelves.

You can have a great price and still end up with a deal that doesn’t work if the business isn’t handed over with the working capital it needs to keep running [read that again].

Working capital isn’t a “bonus.” 

It’s the fuel that keeps everything moving while the buyer finds their feet.

When a seller understands this, the whole process is smoother. 

When they don’t, the deal becomes a series of preventable surprises.

If you’re selling, take the time to understand the handover from the buyer’s side. 

It’s not about giving up more — it’s about giving the business a real chance to keep running once you pass it on.

#SearchFund #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #SmallBusinessLeadership #BusinessAcquisition #LeadershipInPractice #ETACommunity #OperationalExcellence #BusinessOwners

This wasn’t the plan…but it’s been one of the best decisions we’ve made.

Two years ago, Tel, my husband, joined Austral Herbs. 

What started as a bit of help [picking orders, counting stock, and lending a hand with our relocation] quickly became something much bigger.

He’s since become a key part of the team, helping design our factory layout, troubleshooting the impossible, and stepping into production leadership when we needed it most.

Even though we’ve worked together before, this was different, and what a happy accident it turned out to be.

Not everyone gets to work with someone they trust completely, who sees the same challenges and celebrates the same wins.

It’s been one of the best surprises in this journey so far.

I may be a little biased, but he’s been a huge part of how far we’ve come.

Here’s to two years of working side by side, and all the progress, laughter, and learning that’s come with it.

#PeopleFirstLeadership #TeamCulture #PostAcquisitionLeadership #BusinessGrowth #OperationalExcellence #LeadershipInPractice

It’s the question I get on almost every site tour:

“So… what do people use this one for?”

I usually laugh and say, “Well, I can tell you where it came from, who we bought it from, its organic certification and quality specs… but not what it’s used for.”

And for a long time, that made me feel like a fraud.

[How could I run a business when I didn’t even know what our products were used for?]

Now, I see it differently.

Our customers are the experts in application.

We’re the experts in supply.

Our strength is in maintaining quality, consistency, and compliance.

That’s what we do best and that’s what makes our customers successful.

It took me a while to realise that not knowing everything about every product wasn’t a weakness, it was focus.

Knowing where we add value [and where we don’t] is what makes us good at what we do.

#PostAcquisitionLeadership #OperationalExcellence #SearchFund #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #SmallBusinessLeadership #LeadershipInPractice

It was a Thursday night, and I remember telling my husband, “I don’t know how we’re going to get through this.”

Those first few months in our new warehouse was absolute chaos.

We had tradespeople jackhammering while we were unpacking.

My desk, printers & misc. office items in the middle of the warehouse.

Shelving half-finished.

Stock arriving & still dispatching customer's orders everyday.

We were still finding our rhythm — and honestly, just trying to keep the wheels in motion.

One year later:

✅ The layout finally flows; smarter shelving, more space, fewer headaches.
✅ A team that’s not just skilled, but solid.
✅ Processes that make sense and keep improving.
✅ A calm energy that only comes when the right people are in the right roles.

It’s still a work in progress, but now it’s progress we can enjoy.

Twelve months ago, I thought we were just moving into a new building.

But really, we were rebuilding the business, one system, one person, one small decision at a time.

If you’ve ever relocated to a different building or location, what was your biggest challenge and what did you learn from it?

P.S Here are some before and after pics. Enjoy! 

#PostAcquisitionLeadership #OperationalExcellence #SearchFund #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #SmallBusinessLeadership #LeadershipInPractice

We lost a day to a public holiday and still nearly doubled production.

Not bad for a “short” week.

A 46% increase.

Now, it could’ve been a great week with all the right factors lining up.

But it also reflects the momentum we’ve been building.

A re-energised team.
Renewed focus.
Small, consistent improvements adding up.

We’ve been:

→ Training newer team members to take on more responsibility
→ Sharing KPIs and results weekly (and importantly, explaining them)
→ Building confidence through clarity

It’s easy to focus on “big wins,” but these moments, when effort translates into visible progress, are the ones that make me proudest.

Whether it’s a fluke week or not, it’s proof that consistency compounds.

What’s one small change you’ve seen create a big shift in your team lately?

#PeopleFirstLeadership #TeamCulture #OperationalExcellence #PostAcquisitionLeadership #SmallBusinessLeadership #LeadershipInPractice

We rolled out our new pre-order functionality last week.

It’s only on a handful of products so far, but even this small first step already feels like progress in the right direction.

One thing we hear often from customers is how frustrating it is not knowing exactly when stock will arrive. 

And honestly, I get it. 

Running an inventory-heavy business means so many parts of the supply chain sit outside our control — growing seasons, organic certification, freight delays, international suppliers… the list goes on.

So pre-orders won’t fix everything overnight, but they do give our customers more certainty.

They can reserve what they need.
They won’t miss out when stock lands.
And we can plan production and packing more accurately.

Right now, we’re in phase one.

Slow, careful, deliberate.

Testing as we go and tightening the process each week.

It’s one of those improvements that seems simple on the outside, but takes a surprising amount of operational coordination to get right.

But if it makes things smoother for our customers, it’s worth every bit of effort.

#OperationalExcellence #SystemsThinking #AustralianManufacturing #SupplyChainManagement #SmallBusinessLeadership #CustomerExperience #BusinessOperations #PostAcquisitionLeadership

One thing I learned early on: the details you put in place before day one are the details that protect you after day one.

After acquiring Austral Herbs, I knew I couldn’t run the business blindly, especially in the early months when every decision feels high-stakes.

So from the very beginning, we built two things:

- A weekly operational cashflow. 
Without knowing what money was coming in, what was going out, and what was tied up in stock, I couldn’t make a single confident decision. 

Getting that visibility early meant I could plan, prioritise, and avoid surprises.

- A pathway to real data visibility. 
This one took time [almost nine months] but it changed everything. 

Once we could see what was happening across sales, purchasing, production, and operations, decisions got clearer. The noise settled. Patterns appeared.

None of this is exciting [well, to some at least. I do love a good spreadsheet or two]. 

None of it makes headlines.

But it’s the difference between feeling like you’re chasing the business and feeling like you’re actually running it.

I’m still learning. Still refining. Still improving the systems behind the scenes.

But those two early decisions made all the difference and they’re the reason the business feels steadier today than it did a year ago.

#EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #SearchFund #PostAcquisitionLeadership #OperationalExcellence #SystemsThinking  #BusinessAcquisition

There’s nothing more frustrating than watching someone ignore the one thing that would’ve saved them.

[A bit like telling my 4-year-old not to jump off the back of the couch, moments before bumping her head!]

During my acquisition of Austral Herbs, I kept encouraging the seller to get good advisors. Not to complicate things — but to protect them.

They didn’t take the advice.

And so much of the confusion we faced in the deal came from gaps the right advisor would’ve caught immediately.

Handover expectations drifted. 
Simple details became complex conversations. 
And misunderstandings slowed everything down that didn’t need to be slowed [which caused a few too many grey hairs for me lol].

You can explain things clearly. You can support someone through the process. You can repeat the same advice three different ways.

But you can’t make someone take responsibility for their own side of the deal.

It was a good lesson for me too: You can lead someone right to the water — but you can’t make them drink. 

Especially when the deal depends on it.

#SearchFund #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #LeadershipInPractice #SmallBusinessLeadership #BusinessAcquisition #ETACommunity #PeopleFirstLeadership #PostAcquisitionLeadership #BusinessGrowth

Everyone talks about growing fast. I care more about growing well.

We’ve had seasons of fast growth.

And they looked great on paper.

But behind the scenes…we were stretched thin.

Processes lagged behind and people became burned out.

It’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of “more.”

But I’ve learned that not all growth is good growth.

If it compromises consistency, culture, or quality, to me, it’s not worth it.

Growth should make your business stronger, not shakier.

Your people more capable, not more exhausted.
Your systems more efficient, not more complicated.

At Austral Herbs, our best growth hasn’t been explosive — it’s been sustainable.

The kind that compounds over time. Foundations first.

The kind you can build a future on.

Because I don’t want a business that grows fast.

I want one that lasts.

#PostAcquisitionLeadership #SystemsThinking #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #OperationalExcellence #SmallBusinessLeadership

We’re not trying to be everything to everyone [and that’s deliberate].

At Austral Herbs, we know where we add value:

- Maintaining quality.
- Delivering consistency.
- Ease & flexibility of ordering.

That’s our lane, and we’re proud to stay in it.

For a long time, I thought growth meant expanding to new products, new categories, new everything. 

But what I’ve learned is that focus can be just as powerful as ambition.

The more we doubled down on what we do best, the stronger our systems became. 

The clearer our brand positioning got. 

And the better our customer relationships grew.


It’s clear to me that in a world where everyone’s trying to do it all, clarity is rare — and it’s a competitive advantage.

What’s your take on this?

#OperationalExcellence #SystemsThinking #EntrepreneurshipThroughAcquisition #PostAcquisitionLeadership #BusinessGrowth #SearchFund

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