Chris Christofi
Chris Christofi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Melbourne, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Occupation(s) | Businessperson Author Philanthropist |
| Spouse | Billie Christofi |
| Children | 4 |
| Website | chrischristofi |
Chris Christofi is a Greek-Australian entrepreneur, sporting director and sports sponsor who is the founder and CEO of Reventon and CHC Planning Solutions.[1] Since 2010, he has been the major sponsor of cue sports, is the director of the Reventon Snooker Academy and also created the Reventon Triple Crown.
He is an author of best-selling book, Your Path To Wealth: Brick By Brick, and the host of RELENTLESS: Life on Your Terms podcast.[2]
Biography[edit]
Chris Christofi was born in Melbourne, Australia to Greek-Cypriot parents and is the youngest of four children. He spent his early years in Cyprus.[3]
In 1988, he along with family, moved back to Cyprus, when he was 9 years old. At the age 10, he started selling lottery tickets on the streets of Cyprus and working 10-hour shifts at his father's supermarket on the weekends and school holidays.[4][5][3]
Christofi has pursued cue sports such as snooker and billiards; combat sports such as kickboxing and boxing, and poker as a hobby.[6] At the age of 16, he returned to Melbourne and started playing snooker at Brunswick Club and later represented Victoria nationally.[3] He has competed in kickboxing where he had seven fights.[3]
Career[edit]
At the age of 19, he began working for a property market development company and later bought his first property with the help of his parents.[3] Later, he formed a business partnership in Queensland and was working on expanding it. By the age of 24, he owned twenty-four investment properties.[4] Somehow, the business collapsed and left Chris in a massive debt of $780,000.[4] After the debacle, he sold all of his properties and moved back to his parents home.[4] At the same time, his eldest son became deaf after a long battle with meningitis and he split with his partner.[4]
In 2005, Christofi was under a debt of $348,000.[7] At this stage, he started a new company, Reventon, and opened its first office in the lounge room of his parents' home.[3][7] Due to his efforts and hard work, Reventon later became a leading investment and financial services company and currently manages more than $1 billion in real estate transactions.[4] In 2015, he co-founded CHC Planning Solutions along with Christopher Stylianou and Harris Hadjiharalambous.
In September 2019, he started a new podcast named RELENTLESS: Life On Your Terms. He also published his best-selling book, Your Path To Wealth: Brick By Brick in 2019.[3] In the year, he was appointed as one of the top 100 young entrepreneurs in Australia and won the Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Awards 2019 in the category Finance.[8][9]
Contribution to cue sports[edit]
Christofi has been a major contributor to the sport of snooker and billiard as a player, administrator, and sponsor.[6]
He started playing snooker at the age of 14 when he lived in Cyprus. He returned to Australia when he was 16 and started playing for Brunswick where he was promoted to A grade.[6] Later, he competed in the Australian U18 and U21 national tournaments, representing Victoria alongside his friends Neil Robertson and James Mifsud.[6] He has won snooker events, including Vic Minors and has played in the quarter-finals of open snooker events.[6]
In 2010, at a time when the sport was declining, Christofi started sponsoring the Australian Billiards and Snooker Council (ABSC) and also saw the creation of its own ranking system, named the Reventon Ranking system.[10] Due to Chris continued support and financial contributions to the Yarraville Billiards and Snooker Club (YBSC) and Victoria Billiards and Snooker Association (VBSA), the YBSC club was renamed to the Reventon Snooker Academy.[11]
In 2016, the ABSC honoured Christofi with the creation of the Reventon Triple Crown, a series of tournaments which combine Reventon Masters, the Reventon Classic and the Reventon International, and are the highest prized tournaments held in Melbourne, Australia.[12][10]
In 2020, the Reventon Triple Crown received international coverage with 278 entries and a disclosed $135,700 AUD in prize payouts. Part of the funds raised for the tournament were donated to the White Ribbon Foundation. In the same year, the ABSC President, Frank Dewens, awarded Chris for his recognition of his outstanding contribution to the sport.
Philanthropy[edit]
Christofi has sponsored charitable initiatives such as White Ribbon Australia, Expression Australia, World Vision.[13] He is a major contributor to Vinnies' "CEO Sleepout", a charity which raises awareness regarding homelessness.[14]
In June 2018, Christofi raised $40,185 for Vinnies CEO Sleepout, to which he contributed $10,000.[15]
In 2019 he raised a total of $60,564 with Christofi donating 50 cents to every dollar raised, donating approximately $20,000.[15]
In the same year, 'Brick by Brick' fund-raising project was created.[4] He purchased a vacant block of land in Mt. Duneed in order to build a home, and planned to sell the property, in order to support people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Australia.[4]
In 2020, Christofi slept on the streets of Melbourne on two consecutive nights in June along with his wife.[16]
In 2022 Christofi completed his fifth Vinnies CEO Sleep Out, raising a total of $263,096.[17]
Personal life[edit]
Chris Christofi is married to Billie and is father to four children, Alec, Gisele, Penelope, and Mila. [3][4]
Awards and recognition[edit]
- Business News Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Financial Services (2018)[4]
- Business News Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Financial Services (2019)[18]
- Australia's top 100 entrepreneurs (2018)[19]
- Australia's top 100 entrepreneurs (2019)[20]
Published works[edit]
Books[edit]
- Christofi, Chris (2019). Your Path To Wealth: Brick By Brick
Audiobooks[edit]
- Your Path To Wealth: Brick By Brick
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "Property investor counts costs of buying off the plan as value slumps by 29pc". Australian Financial Review. 13 September 2018.
- ^ "A moving story of love and loss". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "From Cyprus to Geelong: the property investor with plans to battle Australian poverty, brick by brick". Surf Coast Times. 4 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Chris Christofi: From Cyprus scratchies to property empire". www.realestate.com.au.
- ^ "Chris' Story - Chris Christofi". 8 July 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Reventon's Chris Christofi talks with the V.B.S.A" (PDF). snooker.org.au. July 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 January 2022.
- ^ a b "Timeline - Chris Christofi". 8 July 2020.
- ^ Ogg, Matt; Simmons, David; Faint, Paris; Jansen, Camilla. "Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs: 61-70". Business News Australia. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ^ Simmons, David. "Melbourne's game changers to gather for the Young Entrepreneur Awards 2019". Business News Australia. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Snooker In Australia". World Snooker. 18 March 2021. Archived from the original on 18 March 2021.
- ^ "About Us - YBSC". www.ybsc.net.au.
- ^ "Sourav Kothari bags Reventon Classic snooker meet | More sports News - Times of India". The Times of India. 10 June 2019.
- ^ "Over $10,000 raised by Reventon for White Ribbon Foundation - YBSC". www.ybsc.net.au.
- ^ Καμπυλη, Μαρια Α (14 June 2019). ""Μια νύχτα δεν είναι αρκετή, αλλά μπορεί να κάνει τη διαφορά"". ΝΕΟΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΣ.
- ^ a b "2018-2018 Philanthropy Report" (PDF). Society of Saint Vincent de Paul Australia.
- ^ "Homelessness 'could happen to anybody'". 18 June 2020 – via www.themercury.com.au.
- ^ "Chris Christofi". CEO SLEEPOUT.
- ^ Καμπυλη, Μαρια Α (9 October 2019). "Ο ομογενής επιχειρηματίας Chris Christofi στους φιναλίστ του βραβείου Νέος Επιχειρηματίας της Χρονιάς". ΝΕΟΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΣ.
- ^ "Australia's top 100 young entrepreneurs 2018".
- ^ "Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs 2019: 61-70".