Janine Wade is running out of room on her trophy shelf.
After taking home Australian Finance Group's (AFG) New South Wales Broker of the Year award in 2024, Wade went on to claim the national title that same year, becoming the only woman in 30 years to win the prestigious award.
Now, the founder and director of Sydney-based brokerage Ikaya is back. On Thursday in Sydney, Wade won AFG's 2026 NSW Broker of the Year, putting her back in the rink for another shot at this year's national title.
But it wasn't just Wade. The brokerage landed nominations across five categories. Ikaya won the Best Broker Group up to 5 Loan Writers award, in addition to Wade's state crown.
Yet, despite the accolades piling up, Wade remains humbled by the recognition.
"It's so weird for me, because all of these people feel like my peers and people I look up to," Wade told Australian Broker. "So it feels so strange when people come up to me to say 'congratulations' and 'you're an inspiration.' Because they actually inspire me."
Originally from South Africa, Wade has worked in the finance and broking industries across London and Australia before opening her own firm in Sydney's Manly in 2016. Today, the firm operates nationally across residential, personal and business loans.
Australian Broker caught up with Wade to unpack what’s behind her success, her perspective on women in broking, and how she’s steering the business through increasingly uncertain times.
The following interview has been edited for grammar and clarity.
JW: No. No. Even from the first year to the second year, I was like, it's a really hard thing to do. And then I thought, there's no way I could beat the second year. But I did. So no, I didn't expect to win at all.
JW: Very hard work, which I don't think is actually, necessarily, a good thing at all. But I've got a very loyal client base, and we're just such a good service for them that they obviously keep coming back. And again, my team — I keep saying this about my team, because it's true — they're so dedicated to helping customers and keeping everything moving and supporting me. Because none of them actually had mortgage experience when they first started. So I kind of mentored them and trained them over the last two, three, four years.
JW: We're doing lots of like rate reviews and things. But customers still — and a lot of our customers are investors —- they're still buying property. So nothing's going to stop them from actually buying. They're still just going to buy property. I think there'll always be a reason to not buy, and for those customers, this [environment] will just be another reason to not buy. But all the ones that have been wanting to increase property portfolios will still carry on buying. Those investors are still fine. I mean, we're definitely quieter. So we've had time to refine some processes that we've been wanting to refine, but never really had time to do. So it's definitely a bit quieter. But we're still doing 50 purchases a month.
JW: Oh yes, and owner-occupied. We've always done owner-occupied loans on refis and purchases. And then some quirky properties. All residential stuff.
JW: Well, there's a bit of a gap with self-managed super funds (SMSF) stuff. We do a bit of SMSF. But a lot of those customers all pivot towards commercial. And then also we're trying to get customers' rates down, because a lot of customers are getting higher rates with non-conforming lenders. We're concentrating on that at the moment, to get their rates down.
JW: I don't know. We've got so many people still wanting to buy, you know, 10 properties, and that's always been their goal. So we're just kind of keeping up with them, keeping them motivated, and adjusting expectations, saying things like, 'You might not be able to buy [what you want] this year. But if you get X amount of savings you could. And also, you might not be able to save as much as quickly, and you might not get the 10 properties you want to get in 5 years. You might get 10 in 6 years, with the changes and stuff, especially with rates going up,' because they have less savings.
JW: This has been like a hard slog. And I think now that I've got my third child, it has made me realise, I don't want to be working this hard. But you do have to put the hard yards in at the beginning. And also, I'd say to hire your team before you need them, because I think that's why I had to work so much harder. Because I've always hired the team when it's been so busy, and that means a lot of out-of-hours work, like weekends and evenings with kids. So as soon as I got my kids down to sleep, I would run downstairs with the baby monitor and I'd get back on the work thing I was doing to keep things going. It's a difficult industry; it's very cutthroat. And I think that's sometimes why a lot of women don't stay in broking. Because it's a really tough industry. There's so many things. You could do this amazing job for someone and then they refinance the loan away, or they sell the property, and you get all your commission cut back. For someone who's starting out in growth, it can be very demoralising, and not just specifically to women. It's hard for all of us. You have to juggle your family. Especially women who have families and stuff like that. It's very hard to do both.
JW: No. But I mean, there are so many more than before. Because three years ago, and even four or five years ago, when I was on the stage for the top 50, it was only me, and then there were like two women, and then it was like three and four. So every year there's been more women in the top 5 brokers. So it's definitely more women who are coming into the industry. And I think also, the industry as a whole is supporting women more, with programs like [AFG's] Women on the Move, and all those programs that really help women to get into broking.
