Pivotel, Soheil Abedian named major winners at Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards for 2021 announced at The Star
The Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards saw 750 people pack The Star on Saturday night, with major award winners named. PHOTOS, FULL LIST OF WINNERS>>
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A GOLD Coast company whose technology has been used to facilitate South American elections has been named the city’s business of the year.
The 26th annual Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards saw the biggest crowd yet – 750 people, including Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk – pack The Star on Saturday night.
Southport-based Pivotel took the major gong of the evening, with long-time developer and architect Soheil Abedian anointed to the Hall of Fame.
Founded in 2002 by industry veterans Peter Bolger and Robert Sakker after the acquisition of Vodafone’s mobile satellite business, Pivotel is one of just four licensed mobile telecommunications carriers in Australia.
The company now has more than 140 employees around the world, including 60 on the Gold Coast.
The company provides critical communications in remote locations, to individuals and large enterprise and government organisations with operations in areas that have no mobile phone coverage.
Mr Bolger said he was delighted to be recognised at the awards.
“We’re proud to be a Gold Coast-based business and have been since inception,” he said.
“The city really has become a centre for business innovation, so we’re incredibly proud to be recognised alongside other local companies doing great things, both locally and abroad.”
Mr Bolger said the company continued to see growth, despite the unpredictable nature of the past two years.
“In the past 12 months Pivotel’s customer numbers have increased by 12.2 per cent globally as the company adds new products and services to meet the growing demand for worker safety, data, Internet and Internet of Things solutions,” he said.
“At the same time, Pivotel continues to explore new business growth opportunities, both domestically and overseas, through internal expansion and strategic acquisitions.
Sunland boss Mr Abedian joined the city’s business icons including Keith Williams, Max Christmas and Paula Stafford in the Hallf of Fame, recognised for his decades of business and philanthropic achievement.
Mr Abedian said Australia, and the Gold Coast in particular, had been incredibly good to him and he’d made it his mission to give back since moving to the city more than 40 years ago.
“From that time onwards, we’ve truied to make a living as well as look after everybody who crosses out path.
“This was based on one single principle, that our father always wanted to have all his children to be educated.”
Mr Abedian, whose foundation funds fees, accommodation and other expenses of scores of university students, told the crowd his key legacies were not his creation of iconic developments like Palazzo Versace and the Q1.
“If I want to be remembered about something, it’s about the hundreds of people and the money we put into the foundation to give them education,” he said.
“I hope one day we can proudly stand at the front of the world and say `this is the ultimate destination for a humanity that embraces everyone, irrespective of their religion, culture and creed.”
The Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards aim to foster pride in the city’s business community and highlight its importance as a business hub.
Winners in the other categories were:
•Emerging & Micro Business Award: HomeGuardian.ai
•Family Business Award: Usher Group
•Retail, Wholesale and Distribution Award: Austworld
•Manufacturing Award: Superior Jetties
•Construction and Trades Award: SEE Group
•Professions and Services Award: GANDEN Engineers & Project Managers
•Health and Wellbeing Award: Medical Rescue
•IT and Digital Business Award: Powertec Wireless Technology
•Tourism, Hospitality and Events Award: Gold Coast Turf Club
•Mayor’s Innovation GC Award: Pivotel
•Student Engagement: Dan the Sparky Man
•Encouragement Award: Macro Mike
•Business Person Hall of Fame: Soheil Abedian AM
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