BRISBANE – Renai’s 14-year-long commitment to helping young men in need has been officially recognised, with the CEO and founder of the Men of Business (MOB) Academy named the 2024 Queenslander of the Year.

Renai is credited with changing the Southport community for the better, along with the lives of hundreds of community members.

“Fourteen years ago, I was asked to coordinate an eight-week program for so-called ‘at-risk’ boys and, after nine years, we raised $1 million in funds through contributions from our community,” Renai recalled.

“With that money we opened the MOB Academy, an experimental independent school.”

The MOB Academy is located 15 minutes from the Gold Coast.

Renai remembers his first encounters with these young men who, for different reasons, were struggling.

Some had dropped out of school, others were alone or without appropriate adult role models.

“The first thing that came naturally to me,” explained Renai, “was to offer them a plate of pasta.

“Sitting around the table and being in front of a warm dish is comforting. It brought me back to the feelings I had when my nonna used to cook, how she made me feel unconditionally loved.

“That endless love I felt taught me the value of family, of sharing and of putting yourself at the service of others.”

Since then, Renai and countless young men have come a long way. They’ve served more than 40,000 meals in the first four years of the Academy’s existence, giving those in need the opportunity to take food home each day.

“Giving nourishment and love are an important part of what we do,” he shared.

The MOB Academy does so much more. It helps these young men between the ages of 15 and 18 take their destiny back into their own hands, giving them a second chance at life.

It gets them back into the school system from which they previously felt rejected, putting them on a path towards either a profession or university.

“All my kids were in the school system, but none of them were engaged or felt like they belonged there,” said Renai.

“They were often suspended from school, many of them fall on the autism spectrum, and others have experienced trauma.

“Our job is to ensure that they have a safe environment, a place where they feel comfortable, where they feel they belong, and where we hope to see them blossom and take off into a better future.”

The MOB Academy usually offers placements to boys in Years 11 and 12, but “the sooner we intervene the better, because Years 7 through 9 are critical for boys,” explained Renai.

The Academy recently launched a new fundraiser to raise $20 million with which to build a school that can accommodate boys from Year 7 to Year 12 and remain an institution available to the community forever.

The MOB Academy teachers listen to students and understand their needs. In the morning they welcome them not only with a smile, but with ready-made food and a DJ playing music before they start their day.

Half of their time at school consists of workouts in the school’s fully equipped gymnasium, along with basketball training and other team sports. The other half is made up of classes in English, maths and programs devoted to their professional development.

To make things easier, The MOB Academy offers a TAFE program that helps them acquire specific skills and gain work experience in their field of interest.

Some of the students travel as much as four hours a day to attend classes. “We realised that many of the kids who lived farther away were driving without a license in order to come to school,” said Renai.

“That’s why we’ve organised driving lessons, which will also help them in their job search.

“[The whole point of The MOB Academy is to] raise better men, better fathers, better husbands, better friends.”

For the teachers and staff, including two psychologists, seeing the evolution of these young men has been astounding.

“The relationship that is created with the teachers is one of respect and trust. The students understand that we are all there for them, to support them,” Renai explained.

“[The usual outcomes are] not the fault of individual schools,” Renai emphasises.

“The problem lies in the system. It would serve more institutions to operate differently.”

It’s a long journey that Renai has embarked on with The MOB Academy, one of love and support for the boys, but also one of constant learning for him and his team.

“Being young today is difficult; these kids are growing up in a really complicated world,” he said.

“They are constantly bombarded with information, and it’s not easy to figure out what to believe, what role models to follow, what values to base your life on.”

But he and his colleagues are certainly providing a great example for these young men to be inspired by – an example they will surely look back on with gratitude in the future.