Mick Nollas on life, giving and business in Kalgoorlie-Boulder

Kalgoorlie-Boulder is no stranger to out-of-towners coming in to make some cash to set them up for a future elsewhere in Australia, but we all know this town can be hard to escape once you’re part of the community.

And that is exactly what happened to Mick Nollas, who came here as a 22-year-old electrician from South Australia with a two-year plan to make some cash with some of his footy mates and head on back to SA.

But almost 30 years later, he is still here, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

Enticed by his footy mates, who would call him at all hours of the morning on weekends bragging about the money and the lifestyle they were living, Mick packed up and made the move to Kalgoorlie-Boulder for a job as an underground miner in 1990.

“I didn’t even know what a mine was at that time — I was pretty naive,” he said.

“But all their calls got the best of me, and here I am.”

During his first year with KCGM at Mt Charlotte he took on a role with the emergency response team, which — though he was not aware of it at the time — completely changed his future.

“I did that for just under eight years and thought it was amazing — I was getting paid to fight fires underground, do road rescues and cut up cars, and realised I wanted to make a career out of it,” he said.

So he made a shift to a Perth-based company working as a training consultant, but when the company was bought out by an international company about five years later, he pulled the plug and made the decision to start his own business.

In 2002, Riklan Emergency Management Services was born.

“All I wanted to do was work from home 10 days a month, and the rest I wanted to spend doing professional development,” he said. “But three months in I had two full-time training consultants working for me, and in 2004 we got our first training centre here in Kal.

“Almost two years after that, we opened the first training centre in Perth and it has just grown and grown from there.”

Describing it as a the “monster he created”, he says Riklan has grown from focusing primarily on mine rescue training to offering various courses, growing from six to more than 100.

The “Riklan web”, as he calls it, stretches as far as Mongolia, Kazakhstan, West Africa, Finland and Canada, and employs more than 130 staff.

And while there are bases in Esperance and Perth, Mick said the main headquarters would always be in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

“I think where a lot of businesses go wrong is they forget where their grassroots were,” he said. “You have to remember the people who helped you get to where you are, but some people just get too big for their boots.

“This place has been amazing to me. Riklan was born here and I just love it here, so Riklan will always have its headquarters here.”

While work keeps him busy enough, Mick is always the first to put his hand up to help sponsor businesses, projects or give to charity, estimating an easy $250,000 is divided up around the community a year from Riklan.

“I am so big and hot on the money you make here being put back into the town,” he said.

“You have to look after the people who look after you.

“There probably isn’t a lot of boxes I haven’t ticked as far as supporting the community, and I have no plans to stop.”

Aside from donations and sponsorship of various organisations, projects and businesses, Mick also started up Riklan’s annual Christmas Acts of Kindness about eight years ago, which helps people in need at Christmas.

“The first year came about because I woke up at 3am one morning feeling sorry for myself at Christmas time and decided I wanted to help people out,” he said. “We were able to help one family and it has just grown and grown from there.

“We raised about $100,000 last year and helped, I think, 50 families.

“I would be lying if I said I didn’t have tears in my eyes when I meet some of the people we help, it is just such an amazing feeling to know you have made their day that much better. We all take it for granted, we wake up Christmas morning with our family and there are presents and Webers outside cooking the turkey, but that is not the case for everyone, so to make someone else’s Christmas Day better is fantastic.”

When he’s not working, donating or hanging out with his partner or three kids, you can find Mick admiring his collection of Aussie muscle cars and Harley-Davidsons.

His spare time is minimal, but he said knowing there was a light at the end of the tunnel, such as his six-monthly holiday getaways, helped him power through the chaos.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.“I love what we do, and love how much we can help.”