Louisa Sijabat is a Registered Liquidator and Registered Trustee in Bankruptcy, with 14 years’ experience in insolvency and restructuring. She has recently established her own firm, Merchants Advisory, where she is the Managing Principal, and proudly guiding her 6 team members to be the best professionals they can be.
About Louisa
Louisa enjoys helping people and turning chaos into order! She enjoys working with diverse stakeholders to formulate the best available strategy, then execute it.
Louisa has been appointed to hundreds of liquidations, voluntary administrations and bankrupt estates across the building and construction, trades, labour hire, transport, hospitality, retail, wholesale, financial services, other services and many other industries.
Get to know Louisa
Q: How did you choose a career in insolvency and restructuring?
I nearly didn’t!
When I was first offered a job in insolvency, I nearly didn’t take it as it sounded like depressing work. But at that stage of my life, I needed a job so I took it. It turned out that I loved it, as it combined my love for helping people and my technical accounting skills, and I found I could help in a way lots of others couldn’t.
To be fair though, I am yet to meet someone whose childhood dream was to be a liquidator or bankruptcy trustee!
Q: How did you get to where you are today?
With the help of many kind people who have helped me along the way!
Continuously learning and adjusting in life and work have also been a huge part of where I am today. Since I finished high school, I’ve been on quite an intentional mission to work out how best to live life. This journey started slowly at first because I didn’t know where to start finding these answers, and who had useful information, and who sounded like they did, but did not. Eventually, as I found a few key foundation principles and lessons that fit with who I am, who I wanted to be, and what I wanted to do, the puzzle became a bit easier. It’s a fun and rewarding journey that I’m still on!
Q. Any advice for females in the insolvency / restructuring industry?
Yes! I’d encourage everyone to start getting to know others in the industry and beyond, and to start building a network from when you start working in the industry. If you’d like to be a successful Principal / Partner / Appointee one day, others have to know who you are, and choose to refer matters to you. Otherwise, you might be our industry’s best kept secret, and that doesn’t help you or the people who would benefit from your help!
Q. What has been your most memorable moment during your career?
The launch of my own firm in February 2023!! It’s been such a journey, including in my own development, challenging myself and the limiting beliefs I didn’t even realise I held, so it was incredibly rewarding when it actually launched! I’m so excited to be able to shape our vision, culture and growth, to be a firm based on excellent and integrity, equipping our team to be the best versions of themselves, and serving our stakeholders well. Now to growth, and finding Principals and team members who are interested in working and growing with the same ethos!
Before this, it would have been getting the notification email from ASIC that I’d been registered as a liquidator! It was about 6pm on a Friday evening, and it was a huge satisfaction (and probably relief) that my work to that point had been recognised so I could now progress into the major league with the other liquidators. I had about 7 years of insolvency and restructuring experience at that stage.
Q: What is an interesting fact about you?
I also got married in March! As one friend joked, all I’m missing from my life now is a renovation… (and no, one is not on the horizon!!)
Q. What is your favourite quote?
Have a big vision! You’re doing no one any good by playing small.
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Louisa Sijabat is a Registered Liquidator and Registered Trustee in Bankruptcy, with 14 years’ experience in insolvency and restructuring. She has recently established her own firm, Merchants Advisory, where she is the Managing Principal, and proudly guiding her 6 team members to be the best professionals they can be.
About Louisa
Louisa enjoys helping people and turning chaos into order! She enjoys working with diverse stakeholders to formulate the best available strategy, then execute it.
Louisa has been appointed to hundreds of liquidations, voluntary administrations and bankrupt estates across the building and construction, trades, labour hire, transport, hospitality, retail, wholesale, financial services, other services and many other industries.
Get to know Louisa
Q: How did you choose a career in insolvency and restructuring?
I nearly didn’t!
When I was first offered a job in insolvency, I nearly didn’t take it as it sounded like depressing work. But at that stage of my life, I needed a job so I took it. It turned out that I loved it, as it combined my love for helping people and my technical accounting skills, and I found I could help in a way lots of others couldn’t.
To be fair though, I am yet to meet someone whose childhood dream was to be a liquidator or bankruptcy trustee!
Q: How did you get to where you are today?
With the help of many kind people who have helped me along the way!
Continuously learning and adjusting in life and work have also been a huge part of where I am today. Since I finished high school, I’ve been on quite an intentional mission to work out how best to live life. This journey started slowly at first because I didn’t know where to start finding these answers, and who had useful information, and who sounded like they did, but did not. Eventually, as I found a few key foundation principles and lessons that fit with who I am, who I wanted to be, and what I wanted to do, the puzzle became a bit easier. It’s a fun and rewarding journey that I’m still on!
Q. Any advice for females in the insolvency / restructuring industry?
Yes! I’d encourage everyone to start getting to know others in the industry and beyond, and to start building a network from when you start working in the industry. If you’d like to be a successful Principal / Partner / Appointee one day, others have to know who you are, and choose to refer matters to you. Otherwise, you might be our industry’s best kept secret, and that doesn’t help you or the people who would benefit from your help!
Q. What has been your most memorable moment during your career?
The launch of my own firm in February 2023!! It’s been such a journey, including in my own development, challenging myself and the limiting beliefs I didn’t even realise I held, so it was incredibly rewarding when it actually launched! I’m so excited to be able to shape our vision, culture and growth, to be a firm based on excellent and integrity, equipping our team to be the best versions of themselves, and serving our stakeholders well. Now to growth, and finding Principals and team members who are interested in working and growing with the same ethos!
Before this, it would have been getting the notification email from ASIC that I’d been registered as a liquidator! It was about 6pm on a Friday evening, and it was a huge satisfaction (and probably relief) that my work to that point had been recognised so I could now progress into the major league with the other liquidators. I had about 7 years of insolvency and restructuring experience at that stage.
Q: What is an interesting fact about you?
I also got married in March! As one friend joked, all I’m missing from my life now is a renovation… (and no, one is not on the horizon!!)
Q. What is your favourite quote?
Have a big vision! You’re doing no one any good by playing small.