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Richard Treagus wins Southern Region Entrepreneur of the Year in the 'Listed' category
Entrepreneurial excellence awarded in Southern Region
Friday, 27 August 2010 — Entrepreneurial excellence was celebrated and recognised at the 10th annual Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Southern Region Awards held in Melbourne last night.
The 2010 Southern Region winners, by category, are:
- Young entrepreneur: Andrew Thomas, Thomas Duryea Consulting
- Technology & emerging industries: Rob Murray, Firemint
- Services: Ryan Trainor, Franklyn Scholar
- Products: Kristina Karlsson, kikki.k
- Cleantech: Tony Sennitt, Diamond Energy
- Listed: Richard Treagus, Acrux Limited
Also recognised at the awards were:
- Social entrepreneur: Bill Lawson AM, Beacon Foundation
- Champion of Entrepreneurship: Lindsay Fox AC, Linfox Australia
Greg Logue, Ernst & Young’s Strategic Growth Markets leader, says the passion, self-belief, vision and determination of the winners is inspiring.
“They have created innovative businesses that have made a commercial impact both in Australia and in some cases, on the world stage,” says Logue.
“I congratulate all our 2010 Southern Region winners for being brave enough to bring their visions to life.”
The recent Ernst & Young 2010 Entrepreneurs’ Confidence Barometer, based on a survey of nearly 100 entrepreneurs, found vision, passion and determination remain timeless success factors for entrepreneurs despite increasing globalisation, rapid technology changes and a more competitive marketplace.
The report also found that 74% of respondents defied the market and grew their business in 2009, 60% expect to achieve double digit growth in calendar 2010 and 92% expect growth in 2011.
More than 900 entrepreneurs have been recognised through the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards in Australia since it began 10 years ago.
The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are held in 135 cities in 50 countries around the world, celebrating those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses.
2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards, Southern Region
Category: Young Entrepreneur
Andrew Thomas, Thomas Duryea Consulting
Andrew Thomas left university just one semester shy of completing a double degree, to build an ethical IT services company. Today, Thomas Duryea is the fastest growing IT infrastructure services company in the history of the BRW Fast 100 list, achieving Top 20 recognition three years in a row. Andrew plans to grow the business to $100 million in the next three years.
Category: Technology & emerging industries
Rob Murray, Firemint
Rob Murray built a home-based software development company into global iPhone app developer and publisher, Firemint. Game Developer Magazine listed him as one of “50 Important People” alongside Apple CEO, Steve Jobs. Rob plans to grow the business into a $200 million company in the next five years.
Category: Services
Ryan Trainor, Franklyn Scholar
In just three years, Ryan Trainor turned Franklyn Scholar into the market’s largest private Registered Training Organisation, with a turnover of close to $18 million and training more than 17,000 people across Australia. His three year plan is to grow revenue to $100 million whilst becoming a workplace of choice for his fast growing team, which currently tops 200 people.
Category: Products
Kristina Karlsson, kikki.K
From a fledgling start-up in 2001, Kristina Karlsson’s innovative fashion stationery retail concept has grown into a multi-million dollar business. kikki.K has 45 boutiques across Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with an online kikki.K store servicing the world.
Category: Cleantech
Tony Sennitt, Diamond Energy
Tony Sennitt founded Diamond Energy with a vision to deliver the lowest possible carbon footprint energy. With a unique business model of direct linkage between generation and consumption, strong capital profile and proprietary technology, Diamond Energy is a leader in the Australian bio-energy market, with a three-year goal to reach an equity value of $100 million.
Category: Listed
Richard Treagus, Acrux Limited
Richard Treagus steered drug company start-up Acrux towards the largest product licensing deal in the history of Australian Biotech. In March 2010, Richard licensed the global rights to Axiron to Eli Lilly in a deal worth US$335 million plus royalties, enabling Acrux to deliver an expected maiden profit of $48 million.
Category: Social entrepreneur
Bill Lawson AM of Beacon Foundation
Bill Lawson is a civil engineer and a Principal of Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) where he holds global responsibility for the Company’s corporate social responsibility activities. He is also the Chairman and founding Director of the national not-for-profit Beacon Foundation, which works to overcome youth unemployment. Bill is uniquely placed to combine both his SKM and Beacon roles in a manner which creates many positive opportunities for SKM, Beacon and the wider community at the global, national, state, regional and local levels. Bill was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001, named as Engineers Australia’s ‘Professional Engineer of the Year’ in 2003 and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006.
Category: Champion of Entrepreneurship
Lindsay Fox AC
The son of a truck driver, Lindsay Fox left school at the age of 16 and bought his first truck when he was 19. Today, Linfox is one of the largest Australian based transport and warehousing groups with operations in 11 countries. The Linfox Group also owns and operates Avalon and Essendon Airports, Armaguard and the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. In addition to his contribution to industry, Lindsay is well recognised and active in sport and charity work. Lindsay’s many honours include; Officer of the Order of Australia, Companion of the Order of Australia and Doctorate of the University Honoris Causa from Victoria University.
Full biographies on the winners can be found at www.eoy.ey.com.au.
