2023 State Finalists - Accelerating Women

Dedicated to women's progress

Get to know the businesses that actively challenged exclusion and inequality to create meaningful and lasting equity for women in 2023.

Accelerating Women Finalists by state

Australian Capital Territory

BANDIT DESIGN GROUP

ACT Finalist

Bandit Design Group is a creative agency based in Sydney. Founded by Mikeila Scheckenbach in 2017, Bandit partners with brands to help them become bigger, better and braver. Bandit was founded with the vision to create a company that provides opportunities, is fun to be a part of and that women want to join, contribute to and grow alongside.

MELS MASSAGE

ACT Finalist

For more than 10 years, Mels Massage has been providing remedial massage services for the Canberra community. A family based business, Mels Massage has expertise in a wide range of therapy services and a growing team of therapists.

Skipper Care Australia

ACT Finalist

Skipper Care Australia is a disability support provider that specialises in providing a personalised approach to your support needs. The team are committed to spending time with their clients, finding out what they need, the types of support they would like and developing a plan to provide this support.

TORODE SOLUTIONS

ACT Finalist

Torode Solutions is a professional services consultancy providing services to Defence and other public and private sectors. The Torode Solutions team assist people, first responders and Australian Defence Force Veterans to transition to positions with purpose. They offer project management, commercial procurement and integrated logistics support.

Twenty Fifth

ACT Finalist

Twenty Fifth is a women founded and owned marketplace connecting busy clients with on-demand errand runners and personal assistants. The team are made up of a curated group of efficient assistants who are presentable, trustworthy and friendly.

Wildly Strong

ACT Winner

Founded by Jennifer Lee, Wildly Strong takes a different approach to women's health and fitness to educate women on the true foundations of health and wellbeing. Jennifer created the Wildly Strong Women's Health Academy, an online course offering teachings focused on mindset, nourishment and movement.

New South Wales

Barker Ryan Stewart Pty Ltd

NSW Finalist

Barker Ryan Stewart is a property and infrastructure consultancy that helps create better communities and deliver high-quality infrastructure. Barker Ryan Stuart works closely with clients to plan, manage and design better solutions, with a collaborative approach that provides a better solution, every time.

CHUFFED SKATES PTY LTD

NSW Finalist

Chuffed Skates sells high quality, affordable roller skates and helps spread the infectious energy of Australian skating culture to connect skaters of all levels. Driven by impact, Chuffed Skates works with a range of community groups to target issues including Indigenous literacy, homelessness, climate justice and asylum seeker support.

Coutts Lawyers & Conveyancers

NSW Finalist

Coutts Lawyers and Conveyancers is a female-powered law firm that advocates fearlessly for its clients to achieve the best possible outcomes. As a full-service law firm, Coutts provides legal expertise across a wide spectrum of practice areas, from criminal law to injury compensation.

HowToo

NSW Winner

HowToo makes building digital training courses simple and accessible for businesses of every size. With HowToo, organisations can take back control of their company training and put the power to create and update their courses back in the hands of their teams and subject matter experts.

Sky Sirens

NSW Finalist

Sky Sirens is an inclusive dance studio and online marketplace offering Auslan-interpreted classes in burlesque, pole dance and aerial artistry. Its studio is a safe space for students of all backgrounds and fitness levels to learn aerial and dance styles amongst a positive and welcoming community.

Queensland

BRANDiT

QLD Finalist

BRANDiT is a Queensland based integrated communications agency lending a helpful hand to solve business problems, while aligning brand, creative, purpose and strategy. BRANDiT uses a unique model of in-house, partners and freelancers to give companies a voice they struggle to find.

Clear Insurance

QLD Finalist

Clear Insurance was founded in 2010 by Managing Director, Lisa Carter. The all female team combines their insurance expertise to make risk and insurance easy for business leaders. They are committed to supporting business growth by helping to reduce the detrimental impact of under-insurance on business stability.

SOCO

QLD Finalist

SOCO is an Australian information technology consultancy that does something special — places people first and technology second. In partnership with clients, SOCO delivers transformative business outcomes with the intelligent and human-centered use of information technology. Solutions align to several categories including content and collaboration, business applications, strategy and architecture, data analytics and finance.

Struber

QLD Winner

Struber believe in building a better, brighter future through infrastructure. Their professional services have supported infrastructure projects across government, independent, national and international organisations. The team of specialists have the skills and expertise to provide practical and innovative services, who are passionate about projects that define our future.

Sunstate Conveyancing

QLD Finalist

Sunstate Conveyancing is a trusted and affordable Queensland based conveyancer, who care about their clients receiving the highest level of customer service at an economical price. Under the guidance of Director Rebecca Petroff, the business works to improve efficiencies across the industry, creating a profitable and scalable model whilst accelerating women's careers within the industry.

Valenhold

QLD Finalist

Specialising in mining services, Valenhold offers end to end solutions supporting mobile fleet operations. With exclusive access to proven parts and components, world — leading engineering and procurement teams, Valenhold can support projects no matter the size or complexity.

South Australia

Barossa Veterinary Service

SA Finalist

Barossa Veterinary Service is a rural mixed practice that provides veterinary care to companion, equine and production animals. Founder, Dr. Catherine Harper is a passionate advocate for change in the veterinary industry and is working to inspire young vets into business ownership and others in the industry to adopt technology and automation.

Continence Matters

SA Finalist

Established in 2002 by Dr. Samantha Pillay, Continence Matters is a medical administration business. The business aims to provide the resources for a clinical team to bring care and treatment to men, women and children with disabling bladder conditions and promote a wider acceptance and understanding of these conditions within the community.

FBW Gynaecology Plus

SA Winner

Founded by Dr. Fariba Willison in 2009, FBW Gynaecology Plus is for women, by women, and offers expert knowledge and treatment in women's health, fertility and wellness. They provide a complete vision for wellbeing with an approach that goes beyond treatment, extending into quality of life.

YLP LEGAL - YOUR LEGAL PARTNER

SA Finalist

YLP Legal specialise in offering advice and personalised strategic solutions in commercial law, wills and estates and family law. The team work alongside small and medium businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs, families, women and older South Australians. Their values of integrity, honesty, family and making a difference are what they believe makes the business unique.

Tasmania

Francesca

TAS Finalist

Francesca is a designer jewellery brand started by sisters Hannah and Rachel Vasicek, combining classic designs with an empowering purpose behind its product range. The business leads with a vision to share stories from all walks of life through personalised jewellery and to continue to make a difference in the community by giving back through its charity involvement.

The Bubble Launceston

TAS Winner

The Bubble Launceston is a boutique specialist GP clinic providing sexual and reproductive women's health services, with a large focus on pregnancy and postpartum. The Bubble Launceston was founded in 2021 by Dr. Natasha Vavrek, with the aim of providing quality women's health care in a safe and nurturing environment in a way that will educate, enable and empower women.

The Lash Loft and Beauty Lounge

TAS Finalist

The Lash Loft and Beauty Lounge is a modern day beauty salon that delivers a range of professional services and products tailored to their clients, as well as providing them with the knowledge to maintain their treatment from the salon into their everyday life. Based in Launceston and founded in 2020, Co-Directors Kayla and Erramel pride themselves on having a team of highly qualified and experienced staff who can provide beauty services ranging from brow artistry, bespoke facials and natural lash treatments.

Victoria

Conserving Beauty

VIC Winner

Conserving Beauty creates efficacious waterless beauty products to help people's skin and save water, carbon and waste in the process. With a background in science and a passion for social justice, Natassia Nicolao founded Conserving Beauty in 2021. The brand is financially backed by environmental and government impact funds, and has impact partnerships with organisations including the Water Footprint Network, the Australian Water Association, SeaTrees, Trace and Provenance.

Legalite

VIC Finalist

Established in 2017, Legalite is a commercial law firm, specialising in franchising. The team help clients thrive, through simplified and forward thinking legal services integrating into your business, becoming an essential part of your strategic planning, expansion and growth. It's just like your own in-house legal team, but without the risk, cost and uncertainty.

Mediation Institute

VIC Finalist

Mediation Institute aims to make high quality dispute resolution skills training more accessible and flexible in order to improve the standards of existing training. Its goal is to increase the diversity of mediators by making it easier to train to become a mediator and through their graduates increase community support and use of mediation services.

Prize Plumbers

VIC Finalist

Prize Plumbing is a family-owned company that aims to innovate in the domestic and commercial plumbing and maintenance field. It installs, repairs and maintains gas, water, drainage and metal roofing systems. Since it's foundation, the organisation has been dedicated to providing the industry's most skilled workmanship and competitive pricing to clients across Victoria.

Style Bundle

VIC Finalist

Style Bundle provide a highly tailored gift curation service, assisting clients to showcase their brand through customised packaging and high-quality homeware products. With a growing team of more than 16 staff and a larger operational footprint, the business has broadened the Style Bundle model of gifting to an ever-increasing range of businesses around the country.

The ALTAR ELECTRIC

VIC Finalist

The Altar Electric was established in 2017 by three Melbourne celebrants who realised there was a gap in the market for people who just didn't want a big white wedding, but something small and simple, yet with a bit more heart and soul than what was on offer at the registry office. The business now occupies its own dedicated, licensed space in Melbourne and marries hundreds of couples every year, offering a wide range of packages to suit everyone.

West Australia

ENVIRAPEST

WA Finalist

A family owned and operated business, Envirapest has been able to separate itself from its competitors with down to earth customer service and cutting edge technology. The team believes in reliability, integrity and workmanship pride, with highly qualified pest control technicians that will quote the job and complete the work from start to finish.

House Digital

WA Finalist

House Digital delivers bespoke digital solutions to companies and organisations that don't fit a traditional SME business mould, such as social enterprises, non-profits, non-governmental organisations and industry bodies. Led by co-founders Jo and Ross Minney, the team is passionate about user experience, data-driven decision making and empowering their clients to solve problems using cutting-edge technology.

Minitopia

WA Finalist

Minitopia was created with a core mission; to bring happiness and fun to children and also to those young at heart by providing a range of gifting options with a distinct point of difference to generic gift shops and department stores.

The Little Bar Cart

WA Winner

The Little Bar Cart is an indoor and outdoor mobile bar service that infuses celebrations and events with quality drinks and customer service. The business' focus is on creating unforgettable hospitality experiences with class and sophistication for all types of events.

Youth Lab

WA Finalist

Youth Lab is a Perth based medical cosmetic clinic dedicated to enhancing aesthetic confidence. The team of highly skilled cosmetic doctors, nurses and dermal clinicians offer an extensive range of non-surgical procedures. They utilise cutting edge medical technology to treat the most stubborn skin conditions and enhance self-confidence.

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