Entrepreneurs challenging traditional business conventions and taking their business innovations nationally are strongly represented in the 2015 Telstra South Australian Business Awards.
Among the 21 finalists are Limestone Coast creative agency Hello Friday which started on the premise that every weekend is a long weekend and Adelaide-based virtual lawyers You Legal which was established by Sarah Bartholomeusz in 2013 services clients across Australia without the need for high street offices.
Telstra Business Group Managing Director and Telstra Business Awards Ambassador Will Irving said the SA finalists are a unique group of businesses that are making an important contribution to local communities and the state economy.
“The Telstra Business Awards reward innovation and celebrate the unwavering passion of Australia’s small and medium businesses. The finalists have poured their savings into a dream of independence and are doing what they love in their own way – and they are doing it well,” he said.
Among the SA finalists defying convention and finding a gap in the market for their ideas:
- Simone Kain, a mother of three, and Ben Hood, father of two, launched Hello Friday in 2009 to have Fridays off work to be with their young families – their educational children’s character George the Farmer has since been included in teaching resources across Australia
- Rather than expecting baby boomers to seek out health treatment, Nick and Nikki Heywood-Smith grew W&L Aged Care Services as a mobile service offering physiotherapy, podiatry, occupational therapy, speech pathology and dietetics. Starting by visiting three Adelaide aged care facilities, they’re now in every Australian state and the Philippines with 170 staff
The Awards will also celebrate South Australia’s thriving food and wine industry with finalists including:
- Cara and Toff West kept a ‘coffee diary’ while on their honeymoon capturing ideas for a dream café. A lack of business and baking experience was no deterrent in setting up Aldinga’s Home Grain Bakery, a café where patrons enjoy roasted coffee and freshly baked goods from local ingredients. In 2013 they opened a second store in McLaren Flat
- Kalleske Wines has sustainability at its heart of with its Greenock farm, vineyards and winery using organic and biodynamic methods to produce handcrafted organic wines. Exporting to 23 countries, it was named Best Organic Wine Producer at the 2013 AWC Vienna International Wine Challenge
The Telstra Business Awards were established in 1992 to celebrated brilliant Australian small and medium businesses. Winners of the 2015 Telstra SA Business Awards will be announced at Adelaide Convention Centre on 10 July. SA winners proceed to the national Awards in Sydney on 20 August.
The finalists for the 2015 Telstra SA Business Awards are:
Start-Up Award
Adelaide Green Clean, Maylands
HEGS Australia McLaren, Vale
Social Media AOK, Stepney
The WOD Life, Camden Park
You Legal, Adelaide
Micro Business Award
Advance Behavioural Training, Wingfield
Beautiful Eyeware, Woodville Gardens
Hello Friday, Penola
Posture Podiatry, Kent Town
Scaled Management Systems, Hewett
WM Business & Tax Accountants, Adelaide
Small Business Award
Advanced Focus, Cumberland Park
Commercial & Legal (Legal Services) Pty Ltd, Adelaide
Kalleske Wines, Greenock
Pet Universe Veterinary Centres, Manningham
Positive Lending Solutions, Hawthorn
Medium Business Award
Home Grain Bakery, Aldinga
Princess Royal Station, Burra
W&L Aged Care Services, Norwood
Regional Business Award
Barossa Weintal Hotel Complex, Tanunda
Beachport Liquid Minerals, Mount Gambier
Kalleske Wines, Greenock
Hello Friday, Penola
Princess Royal Station, Burra
Awards information and tickets to the SA Gala Dinner can be purchased by visiting telstrabusinessawards.com or by calling 1800 AWARDS between 9am and 7pm AEST Monday to Friday.