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The annual celebration of business success run by the Illawarra Business Chamber returned to WIN Entertainment Centre on October 20. At the 2017 Illawarra Business Awards, Symbio Wildlife Park walked away with five major awards after a year of phenomenal growth.
The wildlife park was named Illawarra Business of the Year, its marketing manager Kevin Fallon best Young Business Executive and it won the Business, Innovation and Tourism awards at the IMB Bank Illawarra Business Awards.
The wildlife park is renowned internationally for its animal conservation efforts and its growth in visitation from developing an up-close-and-personal experience.
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“A video of a butterfly landing on a koala’s nose, that was chosen to showcase Australia in the USA, resulted in visitation increasing 66 per cent in January this year,” Mr Fallon said. “Overall the park has seen a 96 per cent increase in visitation since 2014-15”.
Chance Hanlon of Hanlon Windows was Business Leader of the Year - he started entering the Awards 12 years ago and had been a finalist eight times. “It shows persistence pays off,” he said.
The Young Entrepreneur Award went to Sian Ludlow of Stella Studioz and Outstanding New Illawarra Business to Foye Legal.
2017 IMB Bank Illawarra Business Award winners:
- Illawarra Business of Year - Symbio Wildlife Park
- Business Leader – Chance Hanlon of Hanlon Windows
- Excellence in Business - Symbio Wildlife Park
- Excellence in Small Business – F1 Moto
- Employer of Choice - CareSouth
- Outstanding New Illawarra Business – Foye Legal
- Excellence in Sustainability – Warrigal
- Excellence in Innovation – Symbio Wildlife Park
- Excellence in Export – Central Data Networks
- Excellence in Customer Service – Dapto Leagues Club
- Local Chamber of Commerce – Kiama and District Business Chamber
- Excellence in Tourism – Symbio Wildlife Park
- Social Enterprise – The Flagstaff Group
- Wollongong City Centre Business Excellence – Merrigong Theatre Company
- Retail and Hospitality – Mobile Phone Hospital
- Young Entrepreneur – Sian Ludlow, Stella Studioz
- Young Business Executive – Kevin Fallon of Symbio Wildlife Park
Highly Commended Awards went to:
- Courtney Butler of Skydive Australia
- Lauren Buhagiar of Active Property Conveyancing
- Specsavers Wollongong
- Dapto Leagues Club
- Prological
- RMB Lawyers
- Lisa Jones of Australian College of Commerce and Management
