Bring energy, clarity, and action to your next event with Stefan Kazakis
Australia’s leading business growth and leadership expert – empowering owners to break through plateaus and build high‑performing teams.
Stefan Kazakis is one of Australia’s leading voices in business growth, leadership, and accountability.
As Founder of Business Benchmark Group, Stefan has spent more than 25 years helping trades, construction, and service-based business owners scale sustainably, build high-performing teams, and transform their lives.
A dynamic and energetic presenter, Stefan blends real-world experience with proven frameworks. He is known for delivering high-value insights, practical tools, and a contagious energy that inspires audiences to act immediately.
With more than 25 years in the trenches of business ownership and advisory work, Stefan and his specialist Growth and Scale team have guided hundreds of founder-led businesses to simplify the complex, build clarity, and create sustainable, repeatable pathways for growth.
With a track record of helping over 500 businesses achieve double-digit profit growth and significant valuation uplift, Stefan empowers owners to move beyond being the best operator in the business and become the best owner-investor.
Stefan is also deeply committed to giving back.
Through his long-standing partnership with Classroom of Hope, he and his family, alongside the Business Benchmark Group community, have funded and built five sustainable “Block Schools” in Lombok, Indonesia.
After the 2018 earthquakes devastated the region, Stefan joined Classroom of Hope’s mission to help rebuild safe, resilient learning environments. Using innovative recycled-plastic building technology, these schools not only restore access to education for local children but also help reduce plastic waste.
This work reflects a core belief that drives everything he does: business success should create the capacity to contribute, uplift and build futures for others.
What sets Stefan apart is not just his expertise, but his lived experience. Having owned and led family businesses himself, some taken from the brink of collapse to phenomenal success, Stefan understands the pressure, uncertainty, and personal sacrifice that come with being a founder.
Stefan’s insights are not theoretical; they are forged through resilience, grit, tough decisions, and the kind of breakthrough moments that shape exceptional leaders.
You’ve built something valuable from the ground up. You’ve made the tough calls, worn every hat, and carried the weight of the business.
STEFAN KAZAKIS
From Deadwood to Diamonds is an important book for those who have always dreamed of running a successful small business. If you’re already a small-business owner or you’re looking to venture into your own start-up, then this book is for you.