2023 State Winners - NSW

Footage: Upbeat music plays as the video moves from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo to the presenter for the Accelerating Women Award.

Presenter speaks: The 2023 Telstra Best of Business Awards New South Wales Accelerating Women Award winner is HowToo.

Footage: Crowd members stand up and cheer. The recipient walks past tables of well-dressed people and onto the stage to accept their award. 

Recipient speaks: Thank you so much. What an honour it is to be among such an amazing cohort of business leaders and founders. There is not enough investment in female-founded businesses. It’s less than 1%, which is really... there's a lot of work to be done. To become investable, I needed to learn a lot. There was a lot to learn and thank goodness I run a learning business and to enable skill development. We address the skill gaps crisis by making it easy for organisations to transform their knowledge into shareable learning.

I have an amazing team with me here tonight. All female. Come to come to table 33 and say, 'Hi.' You inspire me every day and at HowToo, there are no limits to the growth of my team as well as opportunities for women. We also are very passionate about accessibility. Our software makes it easy to create learning that is consumable by people living with a disability. It's equal rights for all, for learning.

Thank you to Telstra for the experience we've had going through the awards process. It's thorough. You really challenge us. It's made me reflect on the stories, the history, where we're going and really think about our future. So thank you for that.

And to the judges. Oh, my goodness, what a job you have. Extraordinary. Thank you. And to all of the finalists and winners tonight, congratulations to you.

Building businesses is not easy, and I think we're all superstars. So, enjoy the evening. And thank you again. This is a great honour, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Footage: The audience applauds and cheers as the video transitions to a blue end screen with the words ‘Best of Business Awards’ and the Telstra logo. 

Audio – music: Telstra jingle plays. 

Footage: Upbeat music plays as the video moves from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo to the presenter for the Embracing Innovation Award.

Presenter speaks: Winner, winner, veggie dinner - Native Secrets. 

Footage: Crowd members stand up and cheer. Recipients wearing dinner suits walk past tables of well-dressed people and onto the stage to accept their award. 

Recipient speaks: Well, I just want to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. Pay my respects to all the elders past, present and emerging.

My brothers and sisters in the room and all the expertise in the room tonight, I'm really humbled to be here. I'm Phil Thomson. I'm the co-founder of Native Secrets. We've stood on many shoulders to be here tonight.

And a lot of support. And to grow a brand like Native Secrets, we want to be the best. We want to lead the world in what we do. So I've read all the books. It tells us to surround ourselves with the best people, the best business minds. And I invited all those people. Unfortunately, none of those could make it. But table two, they all turned up for us. But we're really grateful. Joking, of course, they are the best people in the country to help us do what we want to do. And we're really humbled that you guys took time out of your busy schedules to join us tonight. So, thank you.

I want to thank my wife, Cherie. She sacrificed the most. Yes, I forgot to book her flights. But I've made up for that, hopefully. My old mate, uncle Pete, he's been there since day one. One of the great men in this country, a knowledge holder. He's represented us all around the world in China. They love him. He's the chocolate man over there. In South Korea, he was the native leader. But it's one of life's true privileges to spend every day with this guy. So thank you, uncle Pete.

It's part of the reason why we started Native Secrets is to share this generational knowledge and build a brand that we can sell around the world that we all can be proud of and use and tell that story about our 65,000 year history and share it with the world. So we're really grateful for that.

And Telstra, thank you and thank you, Telstra. I've been a loyal customer for 30 odd years. But we really appreciate the commitment to small business in this state and allowing us to share this night with all the other businesses in the state. So, thank you.

And imagine, this time next year we go to the bathroom and we wash our hands with a Native Secrets handwash knowing that we're helping rehabilitate land, reigniting these ancient conversations and reconciling this country.

Goodnight. 

Footage: The audience applauds and cheers as the video transitions to a blue end screen with the words ‘Best of Business Awards’ and the Telstra logo. 

Audio – music: Telstra jingle plays. 

Footage: Upbeat music plays as the video moves from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo to the presenter for the Embracing Innovation Award.

Presenter speaks: The 2023 Telstra Best of Business Awards, New South Wales

Championing Health award winner is: JDRF Australia. 

Footage: Crowd members stand up and cheer. The recipient, wearing a dinner suit walks past tables of well-dressed people and onto the stage to accept their award. 

Recipient speaks: Thank you so much. Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world. Indeed, that's the only thing that ever has. That's a quote from Margaret Mead. And the small group of passionate, committed individuals is JDRF. Led by our staff and directors represented here tonight, inspired by our incredible advocates and supported by our donors and partners, we have to change the world. For the 130,000 Australian children and adults living every day with type one diabetes, right now – everyday affected by the ever-present risk of dizzying blood sugar highs and dangerous lows, and onset of chronic complications.

And we have to change the world for the eight new people who are diagnosed today through no fault of their own. And the eight more that will be diagnosed tomorrow. And the day after. Every day, day after day. Until we find a cure.

But changing the world and changing it urgently means we have to be more than a good charity. We have to be more than a good business. We have to be the best of businesses. That's our aspiration as a team. But it's our obligation as an organisation. So thank you to the judges, to the awards team, and to Telstra for recognising JDRF in the Best of Business Awards as a champion of health. That sort of recognition brings attention to JDRF and attention to type one diabetes – and attention leads to support and support leads to more progress. But most importantly for us, this award says to the type one diabetes community: “You were right to get behind JDRF to champion the health of your loved one. You’re right to hold a deep and burning desire for things to change and your right to live with the hope that we will together create a world without type one diabetes.”

Thank you so much.

Footage: The audience applauds and cheers as the video transitions to a blue end screen with the words ‘Best of Business Awards’ and the Telstra logo. 

Audio – music: Telstra jingle plays  

Footage: Upbeat music plays as the video moves from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo to the presenter for the Embracing Innovation Award.

Presenter speaks: The 2023 Telstra Best of Business Awards in New South Wales, Embracing Innovation Award winner is Vantari VR. Thank you so much, everyone.

Footage: Two recipients wearing dinner suits walk past tables of well-dressed people and onto the stage to accept their award. 

Audio: Upbeat electronic music, audience cheers and applauds. 

Recipient speaks: I feel like a high school student has printed out my speech compared to everyone else, but I think it'll do me some good because I'm very OCD about the way I present. So firstly, thank you, everyone. Congratulations to all the nominees and finalists. It's truly hard for me to put into words how this feels. Knowing Vijay, my co-founder beside me, and I started Vantari in his mum's basement five years ago as fully grown adults as full-time medical professionals. Yes, it's slightly embarrassing that our business landlord was Vijay's mum.

Our mission to eliminate medical error through virtual reality has never been stronger and wouldn't be possible without our Vantari family. We like to call our team a family because we support, bicker and love all at the same time like any family would. So thank you to each and every person in our Vantari family here in Australia and in the US. Every hour you've worked or burnt the midnight candle has brought us here. And special mention to Dan, our CTO in Perth, who couldn't be here with us today. 

Thank you to all our clinicians, hospitals and organisations who we work with, including the people who have helped us along the way with an introduction, advice, challenge or investment. Appreciated immensely. And most of all, thank you to our amazing partners, family and friends who support our ups and downs like it's our own. Last but not least, personally, I'm fortunate to work with a brother, although not biologically related. Someone who's been stuck at the hip with me ever since we started Vantari. Ever since I did medical internship and truly someone has struggled to socially distance from me despite COVID. A special thank you to my co-CEO and co-founder Vijay for inspiring me and the Vantari family and making sure truly I embrace moments like this because I'm absolutely notorious for not enjoying the journey and just thinking about what to do next. 

Now let's celebrate not just these awards, but the sheer fact that we're surrounded by like minded people who have made it here and are making a true difference. We can't wait for 2023. As Vantari continues to grow globally in the US, UAE and India. We're so passionate to provide medical training, democratise it for third world countries, and for us as medical professionals to now be VR specialists. It truly resonates to make a difference in healthcare more than one patient at a time. Thank you so much. Upwards and onwards.

Footage: The audience applauds and cheers as the video transitions to a blue end screen with the words ‘Best of Business Awards’ and the Telstra logo. 

Audio – music: Telstra jingle plays. 

Footage: Upbeat music plays as the video moves from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo to the presenter for the Embracing Innovation Award.

Presenter speaks: The 2023 Telstra Best of Business Award New South Wales Indigenous Excellence Award winner is: Indigeco.

Footage: Crowd members stand up and cheer. The recipients, walk past tables of well-dressed people and onto the stage to accept their award. 

Recipient speaks: Thank you, everyone. I prepared a speech just in case. My speech isn't like all the others who were just ad-libbed and all that kind of stuff, so I'm just going to read and thank you.

Firstly, we'd like to pay our respects to the traditional owners of the rain, which stand today, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay our respects to our elders here in the room of the past, present and emerging.

Thanks to the Indigeco team and partnering clients who have supported Indigeco along the way, and mutual aspirations to make a difference is a foundational pillar of the success behind Indigeco. Thanks to Telstra for bringing us all here today for a fantastic awards night. And to be able to connect with these incredible people here tonight. Congratulations to our fellow finalists: Blackfish films, Chocolate on Purpose, Kristal Kinsela Consulting and Native Secrets. Congratulations on your business’ achievements. We feel so honoured for Indigeco to be recognised and celebrated along with such a high calibre group of Indigenous businesses and individuals.

The past couple of years has presented us, along with many of you here tonight, some challenges in our business with perseverance to stay true to our mission and of course, our deadly team support and us mob supporting each other. We made it through to celebrate with you all here. A bit emotional in this one. 

Lastly, I'd like to thank our elders of the past and those who are still with us today, Mum and Dad. You all fought the hard fight for our mob and leave a continuing legacy which will be carried on for future generations through your hard work and resilience. We have a seat at the table. We wish you all a healthy and happy, prosperous year ahead.

Let's all keep supporting one another and making a success of Indigenous businesses.

Thank you.

Footage: The audience applauds and cheers as the video transitions to a blue end screen with the words ‘Best of Business Awards’ and the Telstra logo. 

Audio – music: Telstra jingle plays

Footage: Upbeat music plays as the video moves from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo to the presenter for the Embracing Innovation Award.

Presenter speaks: The 2023 Telstra Best of Business Award New South Wales Outstanding Growth Award winner is: Fonz

Footage: Crowd members stand up and cheer. The recipient walks past tables of well-dressed people and onto the stage to accept their award. 

Recipient speaks: Thank you very much. I'm very nervous and not expecting this. I started FONZ 12 years ago, it's an electric motorcycle company  so we make electric motorbikes in Australia.

When I started the company, Tesla was not a household name, electric anything was not really a thing. And it's been a lot of ‘nos’ and hence why I was not expecting a yes. So thank you very much, Telstra.

I want to thank my amazing leadership team, Jules Boerez, who's been by my side — I don't have a co-founder, but you're the closest thing to it and I really appreciate you. Ashley, Tim, thank you so much. My board that are all here tonight, I love you guys. So much support, love, sometimes money, I dunno. Yeah. And also, my supportive partner and my family.

Electric motorbikes and electric scooters... At the moment I think a hot topic is the cost of living and it's a really economical way that we can reduce our footprint and make a really positive impact. Last year, we lobbied and we got the New South Wales Government to give some incentives for electric motorbikes and scooters in in the state. And hopefully this can be a little bit of a part of encouraging that for the rest of Australia so that we can reduce our carbon footprint, reduce congestion and have more freedom and adventure in our lives.

Thank you.

Footage: The audience applauds and cheers as the video transitions to a blue end screen with the words ‘Best of Business Awards’ and the Telstra logo. 

Audio – music: Telstra jingle plays.

Footage: Upbeat music plays as the video moves from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo to the presenter for the Embracing Innovation Award.

Presenter speaks: The 2023 Telstra Best of Business Awards in New South Wales, Promoting Sustainability Award winner is: FONZ.

Footage: Crowd stands up and cheers. Recipient walks past tables of well-dressed people and onto the stage to accept their award. 

Audio: Upbeat electronic music, audience cheers and applauds. 

Recipient speaks: Last night at the masterclass, Zoe said something about impostor syndrome. Impostor syndrome is a social construct. It doesn't actually exist in our heads, and they create a syndrome. I always feel impostor syndrome, but right now I just want to say thank you. I already said thank you to everyone important but thank you very much. I’m really honoured, sustainability is really important to me and there are some amazing businesses that were in that same category. So also, congratulations to all of you.

Thank you.

Footage: The audience applauds and cheers as the video transitions to a blue end screen with the words ‘Best of Business Awards’ and the Telstra logo. 

Audio – music: The Telstra jingle plays.