Mark Pettitt on risk, curiosity and building something that lasts

When Rob Malicki sits down with Mark Pettitt, the conversation begins in a place few people would expect: Rostov-on-Don in the mid-1990s.What starts as a childhood fascination with Russia, sparked by reading Animal Farm, turns into a story about teaching English in a city near the Ukrainian border just a few years after Perestroika. Mark reflects on arriving in a place that felt harsh and unfamiliar on the surface, only to find extraordinary warmth and generosity once he was invited into people’s homes. It is also, as it turns out, where he met his future wife. From there, the conversation moves through travel, family, entrepreneurship and the work of building Edified. Mark talks about the kind of life he and his wife wanted their children to experience, including a period living in Paris, and why he believes young people benefit from both roots and wings. He also reflects on his first experiments with business, the attraction of starting new things, and the challenge of scaling a company without losing the human quality that made it valuable in the first place. There is also a thoughtful thread running through the episode about failure, resilience and what it means to keep going. Mark speaks candidly about the emotional side of entrepreneurship, the need to recover quickly when things do not work, and the importance of building ideas with clients rather than simply hoping the market will appear once something is finished. Highlights include:how a childhood curiosity about Russia led Mark to teach English there in the 1990swhat it was like living in Rostov-on-Don just after the Soviet erameeting his wife while teaching overseasthe kind of travel experiences he wanted his own children to havewhy entrepreneurship suited him more than business-as-usual workwhat he has learned about failure, risk and building new ideasthe challenge of growing Edified without losing its personal touch It is a conversation about business, certainly, but also about place, identity, family and the experiences that quietly shape a person over time. Global Horizons is a production of The Global Society, Australia’s Learning Abroad support company. Our editor is Len Zamora and our distribution specialist is Gelo Ablao. Rob Malicki is the executive editor and host. The podcast wouldn’t be possible without The Koala News, Australia’s international education news website. This episode is supported by Choosing Your Uni, Australia's unique, AI-powered platform that helps domestic and international students to find the right institution for them, and that helps Australian institutions to access new markets. For guest suggestions and feedback, email [email protected] Horizons is the official podcast of the Australian International Education Conference. Registrations are open now: https://aiec.idp.com