Tom Potter, who grew up in Bendigo, returned to the region this week to deliver a talk as part of the Bendigo Small Business Festival. 

Mr Potter opened his first store in Albury, New South Wales after leaving school at 15 to work as an apprentice baker. 

Over the next 20 years, Eagle Boys grew to become the largest privately-owned pizza company in Australia and New Zealand. 

"One of the things you get imprinted with when you are doing business in country towns is you only get one opportunity to build relationships with other people," Mr Potter said. 

"Other than that they will burn you after you burn them. 

"When Eagle Boys was originally started and it started opening throughout regional Australia the concept was to make sure we had good relationships."

Mr Potter has been named Australian Young Business Person of the Year by the Australian Financial Review, he was awarded a scholarship at Harvard Business School in the US and has become a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

The pizza business also won several awards.  

He said it was important to incorporate fun into the workplace - something he always strived to achieve.   

"We had this nice cross between a culture where we wanted to do things right but we didn't forget to enjoy ourselves and have a nice balance," he said. 

"We got to a stage where employees would come in the door and we would say if you are going to work 12 to 15 hours a day and burn yourself out you are not going to be much use to us.

"So we got to a stage where people enjoyed working in the culture of the company."

Since selling his company, Mr Potter has set up several drive through bakeries in Brisbane. 

He gives business talks and has a five-year-old son. 

The Bendigo Small Business Festival runs until August 31. 

For more, visit www.bendigosbf.com.au