Gallery: The CommBank Young Hero Awards — Small Biz Week
Passionate business leaders and entrepreneurs celebrated an evening full of achievements at the Gala dinner for the CommBank Young Hero Awards, as part of the Small Biz Week. Check out the gallery and winners.
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Business leaders and entrepreneurs are dressed to impress at the CommBank Young Hero Awards Gala dinner this week.
The event, which is part of Small Biz Week, was held at the Clarendon Ballroom at the Langham Hotel at 6pm on Tuesday.
The six individual/entrepreneur awards categories included the Entrepreneur of the Year, Rising Star Award, Innovator of the Year, Sustainable Entrepreneur Award, Indigenous Entrepreneur of the Year, Social Impact Entrepreneur of the Year.
The five business/team awards included Startup of the Year, Excellence in Marketing, Best Place to Work, Most Innovative Tech Product and the Outstanding Growth Award.
Strong Pilates founder and winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year award Michael Ramsey said he was stoked to win the award.
“It’s a pretty easy award to win with such an amazing team behind me — super excited and happy for the fitness industry,” Mr Ramsey said.
His advice to people wanting to start their own business is to get their business model right.
“Brand over anything else — marketing, marketing, marketing,” Mr Ramsey said.
“Get the model right from day one and you will be successful from there.”
THDR Group founder and CEO Timothy Aquino said the team were “incredibly proud” to be named the 2024 CommBank SmallBiz Startup of the Year.
“When we started THEODORE in 2021, the brand was born out of our passion for creating high-quality, capsule wardrobe pieces that are made to fit and across our three years of business,” Mr Aquino said.
“Our focus has remained on connecting timeless tailoring techniques with industry-leading, innovative tech.
“Finding our unique place in the fashion market has been an incredible journey and we’re excited to now see extraordinary growth in our customer base in several international markets.”
INDIVIDUAL/ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS
Entrepreneur of the Year
FINALISTS:
Simplyai
Pretzel
Strong Pilates
WINNER: Michael Ramsey, Strong Pilates
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Innovator of the Year
FINALISTS:
LUMOS
SprintSuite
Esper Satellite Imagery
WINNER: Shoaib Iqbal, Esper Satellite Imagery
———————————————————————————
Rising Star Award
FINALISTS:
Sprout Organic
SLICKHAIR
LBDO
WINNER: Mia Plecic, SLICKHAIR
———————————————————————————
Sustainable Entrepreneur Award
FINALISTS:
CoLabs Australia
Femme Organic
Great Wrap
WINNER: Julia Kay, Great Wrap
———————————————————————————
Indigenous Entrepreneur of the Year
FINALISTS:
Yaala Sparkling
Alinga Energy Consulting
Sarra Creative
WINNER: Ruby Heard, Alinga Energy Consulting
———————————————————————————
Social Impact Entrepreneur of the Year
FINALISTS:
Foodfilled Inc
Consent Labs
SISTERWOULD
WINNER: Angelique Wan, Consent Labs
———————————————————————————
BUSINESS/TEAM AWARDS
Startup of the Year
FINALISTS:
THDR Group
Loan Options.ai
Paire PTY
WINNERS: Timothy Aquino, THDR Group
———————————————————————————
Excellence in Marketing
FINALISTS:
Soup Agency
Blitz Bar
Dropout Chaiwala
WINNER: Jordan Glick, Samuel Vilshansky and Brandon Efron, Blitz Bar
———————————————————————————
Best Place to Work
FINALISTS:
Black Diamond Agency
The Bubble Co
Full Cleanse Cleaning
WINNER: Tamara Haddow and Hope Beale, Black Diamond Agency
———————————————————————————
Most Innovative Tech Product
FINALISTS:
Vively
Meke Baby
Bygen
WINNER: Elysia Krstevski, Meke Baby
———————————————————————————
Outstanding Growth Award
FINALISTS:
Who Is Elijah
InvestorKit
Aceso group PTY LTD
WINNER: Joe Zhou, Aceso group PTY LTD
———————————————————————————
GALA DINNER AWARDS GALLERY
The Herald Sun attended the Gala dinner to take pictures, so see if you or your friends were featured in the gallery below.
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