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With trophies on display, milestones shared on social media and jubilant memories still fresh in their minds from gala events in Sydney, Melbourne, the Gold Coast and Brisbane, a large cohort of successful founders will join a broader community from all over the country tonight as they gather for the 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards.
From Perth to Darwin, Hobart to the Sunshine Coast, Adelaide to the NSW Central Coast and Hunter regions, a diverse group of tenacious, creative and savvy entrepreneurs have been selected to join award winners from the initiative's four city-based events.
The Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards gala taking place tonight at The Star Gold Coast represents the culmination of a rigorous selection process underpinned by financial verification, and examination by the editorial team and judges of nominees' ideas, aims, achievements, actions and impact.
Most importantly though, nominees took the time to share their inspiring and insightful stories, divulging what makes them tick; the highs, lows and everything in between; how the foundations of their businesses were built or altered; their trajectories; and what may be over the horizon.
Despite the strain felt in Australia's startup ecosystem from a tighter venture capital (VC) environment, the finalists these awards will showcase are excelling in their fields, many indeed backed by VCs and scaling rapidly, and others striking it out on their own in pursuit of higher shareholdings for the long term.
To put it simply, young Australian founders are now doing more with less. The challenging macroeconomic conditions led some to sit it out this year, and there was a slight decline in the number of nominations, but combined revenue still rose to more than $2 billion.
This was achieved even with the natural attrition that comes as participants age and are no longer eligible, changing status from finalists to alumni that the initiative and Business News Australia will continue to follow on their journeys.
There is a new crop coming through the ranks, and the excitement and enthusiasm from attendees in all four cities where awards were hosted was palpable.
The most remarkable statistic for the combined group though has to be the 40 per cent lift in total profit to $198 million. And it should be emphasised that not all award winners are profitable, and in many cases, revenues are but a skerrick of that combined $2 billion figure with other facets of entrepreneurship in focus. This is perhaps most notable in the Sustainability & Social Responsibility category but applies across all areas.
The 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards are sponsored by the City of Gold Coast, Coraggio, Soda, and iVvy. This longstanding initiative to identify and foster young entrepreneurial talent would not be possible without their support.
In addition to the coveted Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Trailblazer awards, tonight's ceremony will feature 19 categories:
- Deep Technology
- Technology
- Digital Disruptor
- Fashion & Design
- Finance
- Fitness
- Food & Beverage
- Health & Medicine
- Hospitality & Tourism
- Legal
- Manufacturing, Wholesale & Distribution
- Marketing
- PR, Media & Events
- Professional Services
- Property & Construction
- Retail & Services
- Specialist Services
- Startup (for companies founded in 2023 or later)
- Sustainability & Social Responsibility
Meet the 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur Awards finalists
Adelaide
Madelene Ragno
MADE. Marketing
Brisbane
Ellie Kim
Adore Dental
Christopher Ashford
All Purpose Coatings
Rob Joseph
Anti Ordinary
Angus McLachlan, Tim Dart & Jon Cullen
Bopple
Chris Baptista
Homes by CMA, No Limit Developments
Daniel Wessels
Jacaranda Finance
Courtney Lockett
Lockett McCullough Lawyers
Nic Blair & Matt Anderson
Midnight Health
Jae Martin & Bec Martin
Mondaze Burgers & Shakes
Thomas Fu & Thomas Mcpherson
Motor Culture Australia
James Mutton
Motorcycle Trading
Daniel Mikus & James Rolph
MR Roads
Alastair Blenkin, Tom Newby, Nathan Dench, Jesse Dymond & Tim Rogers
ProcurePro
Peter Dodeja
SAI Security Group, SAI Investments
Patty Roberts & Ro Taylor-Griffiths
The Tides Creative Production
Joshua Spurway & Myrrah Balasabas
Vision Made Co
Tony Chan
Wagepay
Lane Stockton
Yarn'n
Darwin
Dev Tilakaratne & Kirsty Campbell
Ologist
Geelong
Aamir Qutub
Enterprise Monkey
Gold Coast
Amelia Read
Amelia Read Psychology
Sky Kolade
Association of Professional Builders
Samuel Gordon
Australian Property Scout
Jeremy Lynch & Marc Everest
Dealer Studio
Sterling Sheddan, Dillon Adams & Abdul Muqtadir
Fastway Enterprises
Joel Prokic, Matthew Nikolai & Jason Smit
G1 Asset Management
James Carney, Alec Carney & Paul Carney
Gemelli Group
Mark Hawley & Reuben Scheckter
Golf Journeys
Jared Ooi
Maco Electrics
Mike Kellett
Macro Mike
Adam Janczyk
Mobile Power Trailers, Pure Nation Solar, The Mobile Power Platform
Alexandra Rofe
Send Payments
Jacob Ritchie
Two Birds Social, Poly Studios
Hobart
Hannah Vasicek & Rachel Vasicek
Francesca Accessories
Hunter Region
James Sneddon
Hyphen Health
Allana Ford
Muse Pilates, Spicy Pilates
Logan
Mark Martins & Jessica Ferguson
FutureNow Music
Melbourne
Anthony Giuliano
Able Melbourne
Dr Peter Elango, Ying Zhi Cheong, Dr Jamie Low & Mingjie Yang
AUS BIOS LABS
Ben Circosta
Bippi
Rebeca Dee & Alana Mcleod
Burrito Bae
Jordan Cullen
Cullen Jewellery
Dr May Chan
Dental Boutique
Costa Vasili
Ethnolink
Mariah Loriente
Flawless HR
Julia Truong
JT. Production Management
Micky Ahuja
MA Services Group
Jonathan Byrt & Jesse Leeworthy
memobottle
Aron Williams
MERTRA
Ethan Donati
My Million Dollar Funnels
Mia Bowyer
One Earth Marketing
Shannan Gove, Bennett Merriman & Christopher Grant
Rosterfy
Nicholas Quinn & Jesse Moors
Spatium Capital
Michael Ramsey
Strong Pilates
Mennan Yelkenci
Tierra Consulting Group, Booked AI
Josh Simons
Vinyl Group, Vampr
Newcastle
Philippa Smith
Social Startup Labs
NSW Central Coast
Lauren Perrett
BubbaDesk
Stephen Pastor
Kings of Neon
Jessica Staines
Koori Curriculum
Perth
Umar Farooq
Burk
Justin Manton & Sarai Ball
Li-ion Energy
Kent Tan
My Implant Dentist
Blake Kelleway & Luke Whelan
Perth is Ok!
Andrew Holder
Revo Fitness
Heuson Bak
Solar Naturally
Kate Gibson
The Hike Collective
Sunshine Coast
Isabelle Kratz
Belle Le Chic
Jade Spehr
JadeStart
Sydney
Dr Benjamin Coorey
Archistar
Argylica Conditsis & William Conditsis
BABYBOO
Gaby Rosenberg & Ali Rosenberg
Blossom App
Sanjay Sundarjee
Damican
Tahlia Kittos
Empowered Living Care
Steven Vassiloudis
Novalith Technologies
Tim Atkins & Raghav Murali-Ganesh
Osara Health
Ravi Sharma
Search Property
Paul Hauner, Adrian Manning & Mehdi Zerouali
Sigma Prime
Alex Solo & Tomoyuki Hachigo
Sprintlaw
Angus Crowther
Tanck
Aidan Anderson
The Local Project, The Local Production
Daniel Bova & Tiarne Bova
The Yard Gym
Benjamin Hamer
ThinkerTank
Sam Jamsheedi
Trademark Group of Companies
James O'Neill
WildJar
Ho Jun Tang, Vanessa Zhao, Ben Delaney & Adrian Brossard
Yellowbox
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