2025 National Winners

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “2025 Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Host speaks: Please announce our winner.

Presenter speaks: 2025 Best of Business Awards. Yep, keep it going.

Host speaks: You know what to do.

Presenter speaks: Business of the Year is… Rahma Health.

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat swinging music plays]

Footage: Two recipients, one wearing a flowing white outfit with pants and hijab and the other wearing a flowing green dress with hijab, walk past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage and towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: Congratulations. Oh my gosh, congratulations. You are the 2025 Telstra Best of Business, Business of the Year Award. What an absolutely amazing achievement. Dr Naba, how do you feel? What would you like to say?

Recipient 1 speaks: I feel so humbled. I was just telling Amanda, this whole awards process has been phenomenal. I mentioned in the judging that stage one got us to revise our cyber security policy, revise our AI policy, and appoint a head of technology. We celebrated every milestone in board meetings. These last three days have truly changed Rahma Health as an organisation. I've got so many new mentors through this program. We've got a partnership with so many new organisations. Nobie, for example, who are going to be doing our parent training. Shout out to Nobie.

Audio: [Audience applause]

Host speaks: Yeah, give it up. Go for it.

Recipient 1 speaks: I’ve learned so much about AI being here. Oh my god, it's going to revolutionise what we do. Everyone here is amazing, and I feel so humbled to be in the company of such incredible human beings. And I will cherish it so much. I'll cherish it and I will learn from all of you. Thank you all so much.

Host speaks: I love that in this moment of you being honoured, you are as humble as you are. What an inspiring woman you are. There is so much that resonated with the judges about your business. Why do you think it was that you stood out?

Recipient 1 speaks: I think it's because our community deserves this. We work with such a vulnerable, traumatised community. A community that's been neglected for so long, but a community that's so strong and who want to help their kids have the best start to life. And we want to help them, and we will work our hardest day and night to make it possible, because these kids deserve the best possible that can ever be given.

Host speaks: Absolutely, absolutely. We are nearly at the business end of this. What is next for Rahma Health?

Recipient 1 speaks: I think what comes to mind is actually something that was said at the drinks on Tuesday. I remember Aunty Kathryn Fisher said something along the lines of: we can imagine a better world. Thank you. And that resonated so deeply with me. I see so many people in this room, Marcella, who are imagining and creating a better world. And people have worked so hard. There are so many good people, but there are so many more good people now wanting to start good revolutions of equity and access to healthcare and so many things. And we can do it. We will create a better world together.

Host speaks: You are doing it. Dr Naba Alfayadh and Rahma Health, one last huge round of applause for these Champions of Health.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Host speaks: Sarah, please announce our winner.

Presenter speaks: The 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards National Accelerating Woman Award winner is… do we get a drumroll?

Audio: [Cymbal roll]

Host speaks: Oh yeah, we did. Thank you.

Presenter speaks: Rahma Health.

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat music plays]

Footage: Two recipients, both wearing flowing white outfits with pants and hijabs, walk past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage and towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: Now, what sparked the idea that led to this business?

Recipient 1 speaks: My daughter, actually. So Rahma Health started when I was pregnant with my daughter, and I saw that resources in English were so up to date with their current evidence and the latest evidence—especially the evidence on love and the importance of love in parenting; how important skin-to-skin contact is; how important talking to your baby in utero and making eye contact with your baby after birth is, and all of these core human things.

And unfortunately, I had a really close family member who was going through the journey at the same time as well, and she mainly spoke Arabic. The stark disparity in the quality of the resources that she had access to and the quality of resources that existed in Arabic made me so angry. The community that needs it the most—the incredibly resilient Arabic-speaking community who’ve been through so much war and displacement and difficult circumstances, the community who want to heal so much and give their children the best start to life—unfortunately, they didn’t have access to high-quality resources, especially resources on love and loving children. So it had to exist.

Host speaks: You’re amazing. You are amazing. Tell me, Doctor, what does this mean to you—winning this award for your business?

Recipient 1 speaks: Thank you to Telstra. Thank you. The other businesses which were finalists for this award—I felt that you all deserved this award. And you do. This award is for all of us. But I’m so grateful to Telstra for shining a light on women’s health, multicultural women’s health, and refugee women’s health. It’s so important to have this moment to recognise these women and how important their health is. And I think so many people will find out about Rahma for the first time ever because of these Telstra Awards, and I know that the Rahma content is lifesaving. So thank you so much, Telstra, for literally saving many lives of women and children around the world.

Host speaks: You make me so proud to be an Arab woman right now. Is there anyone else that you would like to thank that helped you along this journey?

Recipient 1 speaks: Absolutely—so many people. My mum is my strength and my backbone. Thank you so much to my daughter and my mum and my family and my sisters. Thank you so much to our amazing Rahma Health team. Without you, none of this would be possible. Thank you for working tirelessly for years. Thank you to all of you. Thank you to our entire Rahma Health community. They’ve all come on the journey with us and have supported in so many ways. We’ve got seventy volunteers. We’ve got so many people who support through funding, through marketing, through so many things. Thank you so much to our entire Rahma Health community. Thank you to the judges for giving this moment to multicultural women’s health. Thank you so much to Telstra. Thank you so much to everyone involved. We are so grateful. Thank you.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “2025 Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Presenter speaks: The 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards National Building Communities Award winner is... Social Protect.

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat swinging music plays]

Footage: One recipient, wearing a black suit, walks past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: Hello! Oh my goodness, what an amazing job you do. Congratulations!

Recipient 1 speaks: Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you. It is an absolute honour to be here. Thank you.

Host Speaks: Shane. Shane. Shane, you have done incredible work and I want to talk to you about it. You are now the 2025 National Building Communities winner. My first question is: how does it feel to be recognised for your work in the community with this amazing award tonight?

Recipient 1 speaks: Humbling. To see the quality of amazing people with amazing ideas who are here, it is incredibly humbling. And I do not know what else to say. It is amazing. It is such an honour to be here.

Host speaks: Your work genuinely speaks for itself. It is so important and, as a person who cares for a lot of young people, I cannot thank you enough. I know of course that success is a group effort, so who has been in your corner throughout this journey?

Recipient 1 speaks: There are so many people to say thank you to. I have to say my mum and dad, of course. My amazing, tolerant partner, Jenny, who puts up with me being overseas and away for so much of the year. An incredible team at Social Protect. We have Jacques here with me tonight, who is an incredible backbone of what the business is. There are two particular people who have always trusted and supported me in this. That is Andrew and Faith, so a big shout-out to them both. But probably most of all, to our users — to the people who trust us with their online safety, who give us the ability to keep them safe online. It is such a big thing to put faith in a company to look after you in the online space, so thank you for trusting us with that. And of course Telstra. What an incredible experience this has been. An amazing journey, an amazing night tonight. So thank you so much to the Telstra team.

Host speaks: Thank you so much, Shane. I will ask you one more question. After a win like this, what is the next big goal for you as a business, but also for you individually?

Recipient 1 speaks: Grow. We want to make people aware that there is a solution, that you are not on your own, that there is something that families, communities and people can do to be safe online today. So go and download the app. Make yourself safe. That is what is next for us: getting the word out. This award is an amazing platform for us to let people know that they are not alone anymore. We are here to help them.

Host speaks: Shane, you do such important work. Give it up for Shane and the amazing team at Social Protect. Thankyou so much.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “2025 Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Presenter speaks: And the 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards National Championing Health Award winner is Rahma Health.

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat music plays]

Footage: Two recipients, one wearing a flowing white outfit with pants and hijab, one wearing a black suit and tie, walk past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage and towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: Tell me your biggest hope for the people and the communities that you serve.

Recipient 1 speaks: I want for every child to have the best start to life. I want for every child's mum and dad and parents to be ready for them, to embrace them, to do the work and the research, to know how to love them correctly. A lot of people in the migrant and refugee community, especially in the refugee community, have lived their whole life in fight or flight. A lot of our parents have never felt love in their own life. They have just never had the chance to slow down from war and displacement and, at the end of the day, are simply checking if their kids are still alive. And I want to live in a world where every parent has the luxury of reading resources about love during pregnancy and knowing how to healthily, beautifully and correctly love their children and give their children the best start to life in health and parenting.

Host speaks: Oh my gosh, the work that you do. You are obviously making a real difference. What change are you most proud of championing?

Recipient 1 speaks: I want to talk about a change that sounds very small but is actually huge, and it is a story about Aboade. And I have consent to share this story. So Aboade comes from a typical line of Arab fathers who have never had the chance to slow down and whose main job is to keep everybody safe in disastrous circumstances. And so Aboade came to Australia and he worked in a factory initially, and then we discovered how talented this human being was. And so we hired him at Rahma and he was editing some of the videos for us at Rahma. We made a video about the importance of eye contact with your children. And so Aboade decided that he was going to apply this information. So he paused editing the video and went to apply this information with his two-year-old child. Aboade has never had the luxury to actually slow down and intentionally gaze into his child's eyes. And so when he did that for the first time ever, his child was terrified and punched him and ran away.

Host speaks: That sounds like an Arab child, yes. But I am so proud of you, Aboade. You continued implementing it and realised how much work we need to do in our community. You continued implementing the advice and you have implemented every Rahma advice. And I am so proud to walk this world-changing journey with you.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “2025 Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Presenter speaks: It gives me great pleasure. The 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards National Embracing Innovation Award winner is Comtrac.

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat swinging music plays]

Footage: Two recipients, both wearing black suits and bowties, walk past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage and towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: I am so sorry that you don’t have any supporters in with you this evening. It is devastating.

Audio: [Audience laughter]

Host speaks: It is devastating. Craig?

Recipient 1 speaks: That is me.

Host speaks: That is you. Craig? I think someone is going to pass out in just a moment, so we will keep this quick. Craig, come and stand by me here as I chat to you about your amazing business. Congratulations. You are the winner of Embracing Innovation for 2025. Now, yes, give it up for Craig.

Audio: [Audience cheers]

Host speaks: Now, let me ask you some questions because this is an amazing award. What is the first thing that went through your mind when your business name was announced just now?

Recipient 1 speaks: The first thing I thought was how I kept telling our PR person to get us on The Project and then you shut down before we had a chance.

Host speaks: Craig, if we could boot up again, I would be very happy. Let us spread that rumour. Let us do that.

Recipient 1 speaks: Look, I think it is amazing. We have such an amazing team. We are really trying to make a difference. I am such a proud Queenslander, and to have this in our own state and win this is just amazing. Queensland is a fantastic place to build a business and innovation. It is just incredibly amazing. The work we have done, especially last year, we worked with that Queensland Police pilot. The results there were just insane. For them to tell us that we were potentially saving enough time to put another four thousand police back on the road was just amazing. And of course my journey. I had twenty two years with the Queensland Police, so it was a bit of passion for me to reduce the administration, the paperwork, and get us back on the streets and serve the community and improve our response time. So it is just an incredible journey.

Host speaks: Craig, anyone who reduces paperwork is an absolute hero in my books, but you obviously did not do it alone. Who would you like to thank?

Recipient 1 speaks: Look, I have got my whole team. Honestly, I had to kiss a lot of frogs to find the right team. It is where we are. To Jason Chase, our CTO, he has been with me from the start. And this is the guy where I will draw a feature and a function on a PowerPoint or a wireframe in a day, and I complain why it takes him three months to build it for me. And to the rest of my team, and honestly to my wife Nadine who worked... and honestly she...

Footage: Nadine yells supportively from the audience.

Recipient 1 speaks: Can you be quiet? I am doing a speech.

Audio: [Audience laughter]

Recipient 1 speaks: And by the way, this is on the pillow next to me tonight.

Host peaks: It is now.

Recipient 1 speaks: That is right. Look, honestly, Nadine has worked in the criminal justice system her whole life, and when I told her I thought I could streamline the whole criminal justice system and she knew how it worked, she looked at me full of support and went, good luck with that buddy. But we are doing it. We are achieving it. To my amazing team, this is all yours. It really is. Thank you.

Host speaks: Craig, I just have to ask you quickly before you leave, what is next?

Recipient 1 speaks: Well, we have got this amazing…

Host speaks: Nadine just asked for a promotion.

Recipient 1 speaks: Yeah, that is true. Look, honestly, we have had amazing interest from other law enforcement agencies in the States. They saw what we did with Queensland. We have been approached by a US company that already has two thousand police departments. They want to get us in front of them. So we really hope to change frontline policing in Australia first. This is where it was born and this is where my idea came from. It is an amazing time.

Host speaks: Well, Craig, it does not sound like you have any fun at all with your team. They are reserved. But I am sure they will bring it out for you tonight. Enjoy celebrating. A huge congratulations to you and to your wonderful team. Well done.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “2025 Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Presenter speaks: The 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards, National Indigenous Excellence Award winner is Dice Australia.

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat swinging music plays]

Footage: One recipient, wearing a black suit and tie, walks past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage and towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: Oh my goodness. Congratulations. This is incredible. Please join me here in centre stage. We are so thrilled at this incredible achievement for you. We actually just passed each other in the corridor and this is no lie. I was like, good evening. And what did you say?

Recipient 1 speaks: My name Jeff.

Audio: [Audience laughter]

Host speaks: All right, leave the jokes to me, buddy. All right.

Recipient 1 speaks: I said I would like to be standing next to you very shortly.

Host speaks: He said that and then you manifested that. That was incredible. And we are so happy for you. I have to ask a couple of official questions. Yes.

Audio: [Audience member yells]

Host speaks: Yes. Gosh, Table 4 just keeps on giving. What does winning this award mean to you and your business?

Recipient 1 speaks: It’s just such an incredible honour to be winning this award, and it really helps us to elevate and continue to do what we do, which is trying to create opportunities for people and do what we do best, and empower communities and empower people.

Host speaks: Now, you said we, so it's not just you. Who would you like to thank from your team?

Recipient 1 speaks: Oh, I'd like to thank my team. However, we were coached today. I need to start with thanking Mum and Dad for giving us a platform, or giving me an upbringing that actually leads me to be able to even stand here with you on this stage today. And over on the table, Table 18.

Audio: [Audience cheers and applause]

Host speaks: Oh, come on, Table 18. I heard you before. You can do better than that.

Recipient 1 speaks: My beautiful wife is on that table there. And without her support, I could not do what we do. She's always beside me. She looks after me and the kids, and if you're not doing what you do, it's impossible for me to do this. I would also like to acknowledge Lindsay O'Hea. He's on the table there as well. He's our general manager, and he pushed us all the way through this process as well. And then there is an incredible team. We have 84 full-time staff at the moment in the Northern Territory team, which is excellent. And it's their passion and giving every day that allows us to do this. And I just feel incredibly honoured to be able to lead them in this.

Host speaks: And you will lead them into the future. What are you most excited about for Dice Australia in the future?

Audio: [Recipient 1 laughs]

Recipient 1 speaks: This just gives us such an incredible national platform, backed by a global brand. So it gives us instant credibility. We can choose to partner with whoever, help create more businesses, train more people. And Telstra — I forgot to thank Telstra. I really do thank Telstra for this amazing opportunity. Because, like I said, the... Oh my goodness.

Audio: [Recipient 1 laughs]

Recipient 1 speaks: Barb will be very disappointed in me, right?

Host speaks: No, no one is disappointed. Are you kidding? You're amazing.

Recipient 1 speaks: No, it's just the platform that it gives you. And...

Audio: [Audience cheering]

Recipient 1 speaks: I forgot the question.

Host speaks: So did I. Congratulations. Have the most spectacular night.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “2025 Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Presenter speaks: The 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards, National Outstanding Growth Award winner is… Feel free to hit the tables now, guys. Come on. Thank you. Revo Fitness.

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat swinging music plays]

Footage: One recipient, wearing a black suit and bowtie, walks past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage and towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: Hey congratulations, how do you feel?

Recipient 1 speaks: I feel great. It's an amazing honour to be up here representing our great brand, our great people and our great members.

Host speaks: Absolutely, and you have done such an incredible job with this business, and there is so much more ahead of you. Obviously you don't do it alone though, who would you like to thank?

Recipient 1 speaks: Yeah, I'd firstly like to thank our team, the Revo Fitness team, who drive our business every day, who are so aligned with our mission to make fitness more accessible to all Australians. For us to essentially give back to our community, they are the foundation of that. To my beautiful wife Elise. She's been on this journey the whole way; my beautiful children. I started dating Elise when I was an eighteen-year-old, three years before I started Revo Fitness straight out of uni, and so she's seen all the trials and tribulations, and I certainly wouldn't be up here without her. And finally, thank you to our members. I was a twenty-one-year-old just sitting behind a counter, cleaning the toilets, cleaning the gym equipment, listening to their feedback and essentially just putting in place what they wanted. And that sparked something in me that made me want to give back to more Australians, and without them I wouldn't be up here. So thank you to them, thank you to Telstra and, yeah, thank you for this award. It means a lot.

Host speaks: I have to say that there is — accept that, accept that applause, do accept it — a theme of amazing wives supporting incredible men, which doesn't go past me. Besides having an excellent spouse, what advice do you have for growing business?

Recipient 1 speaks: Forever learn, continuously improve, and always be the dumbest in the room. You've always got somebody to learn from, so drop your assumptions and pay attention.

Host speaks: Absolutely. Congratulations.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.

Footage: The video transitions from a blue opening screen with the Telstra logo and the text “2025 Best of Business Awards”, to footage of the Host and the Award presenter on stage.

Presenter speaks: The 2025 Telstra Best of Business Awards, National Promoting Sustainability Award, and the winner is… drumroll! Everyone, this is the last one. I want it loud! Thank you!

Audio: [Cymbal roll]

Presenter speaks: Li-on Energy

Audio: [Audience cheers, upbeat swinging music plays]

Footage: Two recipients, both wearing black suits and ties, walk past a cheering audience. They walk on the stage and towards the podium. They receive an award and take a photo with the presenter.

Host speaks: What does this moment represent for you personally, but also professionally?

Recipient 1 speaks: Personally, I put in a lot of effort and a lot of hours to get it over the line, but professionally, it's not just an award; it's a key to opening doors in the future. This is what's going to get the word out and get us known around the place.

Host speaks: Absolutely. Now, obviously you both work incredibly hard. Who would you like to thank in your team?

Recipient 1 speaks: Alright, my team especially… actually no, first Telstra. Telstra, I'd like to thank them and their team, and not just them, the support staff as well, for getting us here, because there's a pretty good spread. There's a lot of effort that's gone into this.

Audio: [Audience applause]

Recipient 1 speaks: And my team as well. I've given them so many challenges that most people run away from, so they've done really well. And my partner Sarah. She wasn't able to be here today, but she's at home looking after the pups. She's my motivation, she's the co-founder, she's my support and my fiancée, so without her I wouldn't be here anyway today.

Host speaks: Congratulations. And tell me about the future of Li-ion Energy. What's next?

Recipient 1 speaks: Next year we'll be here in Queensland, so we'll have a little presence here. I know in five years we will have a place in every state, but our main intention is to let everything know that with lithium batteries there's so much potential because there's so much waste. So there's so much potential for reuse and recycling. It's not that bad; it's not as bad as the media brings it out to be with all the fires and whatnot. But it's here to stay anyway — reuse.

Host speaks: Well, you're doing amazing work. Congratulations to you and Li-ion Energy. Enjoy the rest of the night.

Footage: Video transitions to a blue end screen with the Telstra logo.