The Illawarra was exceptionally well represented at the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards finalists announcements. Photo: Precedent Productions.
From thousands of entrants across the nation, 18 Illawarra businesses have been announced as finalists in the nation’s biggest celebration of women in small business.
The Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards is the only national awards program of its kind created specifically to shine a spotlight on the rising economic, cultural and social contributions of female-led small businesses.
Spanning all capital cities as well as rural, regional and suburban towns, the awards feature more than 60 categories across retail, services and manufacturing industries, as well as individual categories in celebration of the year’s most inspiring female small business trailblazers.
Two Face Investigations owner Kylee Dennis said she was “thrown for a six” when she received the good news.
“I admit when the beautiful envelope arrived in the mail I did a bit of a happy dance in the lounge room,” she said.
“It’s tough going into business on your own because there’s no perfect formula for success. It comes with magic days and some not-so-magic days, and you have to show up every day to ride the good with the bad. It’s wonderful to have that hard work acknowledged.”
The awards come in an “age of female entrepreneurial empowerment”, according to the awards’ founder and managing director of award coordinators Precedent Productions, Steve Loe.
“Despite the current high cost of living and myriad challenges associated with small business ownership at present, Australian women – absolutely including businesswomen from the Illawarra – are simply powering through and showing incredible resilience and drive across all industries of the small business sector,” he said.
“We received a high volume of high-quality submissions and so, the shortlisting of this year’s finalists was quite the challenge for our judges.
“Being selected as a finalist of this prestigious event – from a national entrant pool of thousands – is no easy feat and speaks volumes of the tenacity and leadership at each of these female-led small businesses.
Awards founder Steve Loe said it was an “age of female entrepreneurial empowerment”. Photo: Precedent Productions.
Two-time finalist Miss Zoe’s School of Dance owner Zoe McCarthy said it was the big night she was most looking forward to, but more for the inspiration than the trophies.
“Last year’s was one of the best awards nights I’ve been to, owing to all the amazing stories of the winners – these incredible women who were just so inspiring. That’s what I’m looking forward to most this year,” she said.
“I think it’s so important to have awards like these that honour their hard work. I’ve been doing this 18 years now, and it’s just me running the show, so I appreciate what goes into it.”
The 18 Illawarra-based finalists are:
- Good Energy Run Club – Mount Saint Thomas (Community Service Small Business)
- Miss Zoe’s School of Dance – Wollongong (Performing Arts)
- Sarah Rowan – Helensburgh (Sole Operator)
- Taleeta – Thirroul (Fashion)
- Desiderate – Thirroul (Jewellery)
- Orchid Belle Beauty – Figtree (Sole Operator and Young Small Business Champion Woman Entrepreneur)
- Bambolinis Soft Play – Stream Hill (Event Services)
- Tiny Tins – Unanderra (Environmental Business and Small Business Champion Woman Entrepreneur)
- Propel Technologies – Unanderra (IT and Small Business Champion Woman Entrepreneur)
- Eduinfluencers – Albion Park (Educational Services)
- Two Face Investigations – Barrack Point (New Business)
- Small Business Hub – Blackbutt (Business Services)
- Skin Correctives – Shellharbour (Beauty Services)
- Knock Knock Real Estate – Dapto (Real Estate)
- Evolve Communities – Jamberoo (Social Enterprise Business)
- Miss Arda – Kiama (Restaurant)
- The Collective Beat – Kiama (Specialised Retail Small Business)
- SOUL FIT CO – Werri Beach (Fitness Services)
Winners of the 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards will be announced on Saturday 24 August in spectacular style at a red-carpet National Presentation Evening gala event, hosted by Nine journalist Jayne Azzopardi, at Sydney’s The Star.
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