Recruitment is a people business and when running an office on the other side of the world it is vital to put in place someone with the right attributes and motivation who also understands all aspects of starting up a business. As Digby comments, a lot of hands go up at the prospect of working in Australia and there's an assumption that if you've recruited people and run a team before, you will be able to do the job, which isn't necessarily the case. In the early days, for instance, it is imperative that your lead person is a confident self-starter.

"Personal fortitude and resilience are important because it's a lonely job — they'll be sitting in an office with a telephone and a PC," says Digby. "And if head office is in the UK in a different time zone, they are very much on their own."

Due to the pressures involved in setting up, Digby advises putting two key people in place, whose skills complement each other. "You have to make sure that their functions are well-defined so they don't tread on each other's toes, but we've found that partnerships work well when you don't immediately have the exact right person with the right experience," he says.

Garner concurs that appointing the right leader is a top priority. In Hydrogen's case a proven UK biller, who had all of the skillsets required, was installed in its Sydney office. Garner adds that movement between the UK and Australia is part of the company's career development opportunities.

"We want to create a global workforce where people can develop with the business and where better to do that than in another country?" he says.