Harry Katsiabanis is an Australian entrepreneur and public transport operator known for founding P2P Transport, TaxiLink, CABiT, Ride247, and the Huntingdale-based self storage company StorageX.

Early life and education

Harry Katsiabanis attended Melbourne High School and La Trobe University. He worked as a real estate agent for a decade before deciding to enter the taxicab industry. He began driving taxi cabs in 1988, and bought his first taxi license at the age of 21. Katsiabanis attended

Swinburne University of Technology Swinburne University of Technology (often simply called Swinburne) is a public research university based in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1908 as the Eastern Suburbs Technical College by George Swinburne to serve those without access ...

from 2011 to 2013, and graduated with a master's degree.

Career

TaxiLink, TaxiEpay, Greek immigration

Katsiabanis founded the Melbourne-based taxi network Taxi Link in 2003 and is the company's executive director. e also created TaxiEpay, an EFTPOS system, that same year. Katsiabanis is the spokesperson for Taxi Industry Stakeholders Victoria, and became known for opposing

Allan Fels Allan Herbert Miller Fels (born 7 February 1942) is an Australian economist, lawyer and public servant. He was most widely known in his role as chairman of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) from its inception in 1995 unt ...

' position in the 2011

Taxi Industry Inquiry The Taxi Industry Inquiry or the Fels Inquiry was an inquiry commissioned in 2011 into the taxi industry and taxi services in Victoria, Australia, by the Taxi Services Commission. The inquiry was headed by Professor Allan Fels assisted by Dr Da ...

, and protesting government plans to reduce the value of taxi licenses. In 2012, Katsiabanis started an initiative to encourage Greeks to immigrate to Australia and work as taxi drivers in the Melbourne-area during the Greek financial crisis. The initiative was motivated by changes in

Australian immigration The Australian continent was first settled when ancestors of Indigenous Australians arrived via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea over 50,000 years ago. European colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of a B ...

laws which reduced immigration from India, thereby creating a shortage of taxi cab drivers in Australia. That same year, Katsiabanis founded the Australian Taxi Academy, offering free training and seminars to Greeks who enrolled in the program. In June 2012, Katsiabanis he a series of seminars about the initiative in Athens. In May 2013, it was reported Katsiabanis and two other taxi operators bought the rights to Taxiplon, a Greek taxi-booking app. In November 2013, Katsiabanis announced his plans to launch Taxi Link Pink, a pink fleet of cabs driven by women for female passengers. He stated that the initiative was inspired by an article in '' The Age'', which reported on sexual harassment by cab drivers in Victoria.

CABiT

In 2014, Katsiabanis founded CABiT, an Australian vehicle for hire service that combined the fleets of Taxi Link, Ambassador, Cabways, and Kensington Taxis. Katsiabanis has stated that the company was modelled after the Indonesian taxi group Blue Bird. On August 24, 2015, CABiT launched a fleet of green-painted,

hybrid cars A hybrid vehicle is one that uses two or more distinct types of power, such as submarines that use diesel when surfaced and batteries when submerged. Other means to store energy include pressurized fluid in hydraulic hybrids. The basic princip ...

P2P, Ride247

Katsiabanis co-founded P2P Transport, a vehicle rental company, in 2017. He initially raised $30 million in funding for the company with a group of investors in mid-2017, and the company opened on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

in December. In 2018, Katsiabanis announced plans to launch Ride247, a mobile phone app which would allow users to book taxis, rideshare cars, and limousines.

StorageX

Katsiabanis is currently the director of StorageX, an Australian self storage company based in

Huntingdale, Victoria Huntingdale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Huntingdale recorded a population of 1,949 at the 2021 census. ...

, which he founded in 2022 with his family.

Personal life

Harry Katsiabanis is a Australian of Greek descent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Katsiabanis, Harry 21st-century Australian businesspeople Australian people of Greek descent Businesspeople from Melbourne La Trobe University alumni People educated at Melbourne High School Swinburne University of Technology alumni Australian businesspeople in transport Year of birth missing (living people) Living people