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Award nominees brought in $2 billion in combined revenue, employed 12,400 staff, and their total profit soared as they reshaped and thrived in a wide spectrum of industries, but only one entrant could be crowned 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
Web3 superstars Mehdi Zerouali, Paul Hauner and Adrian Manning have won the prestigious 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year prize at an awards gala on the Gold Coast, following a year of major traction for their Sydney-based company Sigma Prime, a self-funded blockchain security and research firm.
"We advance the security and integrity of the blockchain ecosystem by providing expert security services to critical web3 projects globally," says Zerouali, whose company also developed the open source Lighthouse platform that facilitates 30 per cent of the US$375 billion Ethereum blockchain network.
"Leveraging deep technical expertise, we identify vulnerabilities and protect essential infrastructure, driven by our belief in the power of secure, decentralised systems to shape the future of the digital world."
After a record haul for founders from Melbourne last year, Brisbane entrepreneurs won the most awards in 2024, taking home five trophies.
But in a cruel twist of fate, the 2024 Brisbane Young Entrepreneur of the Year Chris Baptista of Homes by CMA did not win the Property & Construction award despite his immense success, with the judges favouring 2024 Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur of the Year Samuel Gordon of buyer's agency Australian Property Scout.
Last year not a single Gold Coast founder was able to win an award on the national level, but this year the hometown contenders came back with a vengeance with four awards.
In a massive development, founders from Perth won three awards. The city is a major economy that has been historically underrepresented in this initiative, and whilst nominations have been growing each year we have not yet garnered the critical mass of entries needed to host an event in WA.
In the past the awards have seen winners from Logan, Adelaide, Byron Bay, Newcastle and Wollongong, but surprisingly not from Perth. That all changed in 2024 with Revo Fitness founder Andrew Holder winning both the Fitness and coveted Trailblazer awards, with the latter seeing him join a cohort that includes the founders of Go1, Advanced Navigation, and Acusensus (ASX: ACE), to name a few.
Holder started Revo Fitness more than a decade ago at the age of 21, driven by a desire to open a gym with all the necessary equipment but without the lengthy, complex contracts. Fast forward to now, and what began as a 200sqm warehouse has grown to 47 locations.
By some industry estimates this makes Revo Australia's 11th largest gym brand by number of locations - a fact that is even more impressive considering he has avoided franchising which is a common path to rapid growth in the industry.
Holder won the Trailblazer category ahead of a stellar cohort of rivals including Dr Benjamin Coorey of Archistar, Jordan Cullen of Cullen Jewellery, Alexandra Rofe of Send Payments, and Tony Chan of Wagepay.
Another winner from Perth was Umar Farooq of Burk, a challenger startup in a fuel distribution and retail market that is dominated by giant incumbents. Burk has become an emerging power in the sector in WA, and is now making early moves in Queensland and Victoria.
Last night's awards also represented an end of an era for 2024 Melbourne Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Dental Boutique co-founder Dr May Chan.
The founder, driven by a passion for cosmetic dentistry and knowing from personal experience the way it can change lives, created the steadily fast-growing business with her husband Dr Reuben Sim and both had participated in the awards every year since it went national in 2018, until Sim was no longer eligible on age grounds this year.
This year Chan won the national Health & Medicine category for the fourth consecutive time, and had every chance of winning the top prize for the third time in a row as judges' opinions varied based on the diverse merits of contenders.
Attendees were treated to inspiring stories from the winners throughout the evening, not to mention one another's tales of hardship and success. This celebration of entrepreneurship, that finds and recognises exceptional talent, would not have been possible without the awards' sponsors, the City of Gold Coast, Coraggio, Soda, and iVvy.
All of the winners from the 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards:
- Australian Young Entrepreneur of the Year: Paul Hauner, Adrian Manning & Mehdi Zerouali - Sigma Prime
- Trailblazer: Andrew Holder - Revo Fitness
- Deep Tech: Dr Christopher Jeffery - Convergence Medical
- Digital Disruptor: Josh Simons - Vinyl Group, Vampr
- Fashion & Design: Argylica Conditsis and William Conditsis - BABYBOO
- Finance: Daniel Wessels, Jacaranda Finance
- Fitness: Andrew Holder - Revo Fitness
- Food & Beverage: Mike Kellett - Macro Mike
- Health & Medicine: Dr May Chan - Dental Boutique
- Hospitality & Tourism: James Carney, Alec Carney & Paul Carney - Gemelli Group
- Legal: Courtney Lockett - Lockett McCullough Lawyers
- Manufacturing, Wholesale & Distribution: Umar Farooq - Burk
- Marketing: James O'Neill - Wildjar
- PR, Media & Events: Thomas Fu and Tom Mcpherson - Motor Culture Australia
- Professional Services: Micky Ahuja - MA Services Group
- Property & Construction: Samuel Gordon - Australian Property Scout
- Retail & Services: Jordan Cullen - Cullen Jewellery
- Specialist Services: Daniel Mikus & James Rolph - MR Roads
- Startup: Sterling Sheddan, Dillon Adams & Abdul Muqtadir - Fastway Enterprises
- Sustainability & Social Responsibility: Angus Crowther - Tanck
- Technology: Paul Hauner, Adrian Manning & Mehdi Zerouali - Sigma Prime
A full list of finalists in the 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards can be found here.
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