2007 Premier Regional Business Awards

4 March 2008

The PREMIER REGIONAL BUSINESS AWARD for 2007 went to ALLSTAFF AIR CONDITIONING PTY LTD

Congratulations to all winners and nominees.
 

After a very successful evening, The Chamber of Commerce would like to congratulate all the Nominees and Sponsors on a fantastic evening.

Award Category Winners were:

Corporate & Social Responsibility:  Australian Char Pty Ltd
Sponsored by SITA Environmental

Employment Award: Linak Australia Pty Ltd
Sponsored by ESP Tecforce

Export Award: Globe Machines Pty Ltd
Sponsored by Ferrier Hodgson

Innovation Award: Direct Mail & Marketing Pty Ltd
Sponsored by M+K Lawyers

Service Excellence Award: Dorma Australia
Sponsored by Star News Group

Small Business Award: Hermitage Homes
Sponsored by Aston.Ryan.Malcolm

Retail Award: Gemini Catering Equipment & Uniforms
Sponsored by City of Greater Dandenong

Youth Enterprise Award: Matthew Szczensy (PWR Performance)
Sponsored by Chisholm Institute

Premier Regional Business Award: Allstaff Air Conditioning Pty Ltd
Sponsored by NAB


Thanks to Sandra George, Tom Flintoff, Doug Maxwell and Charles Wilkins, the judges this year. The judges “donate” their time to go and visit each of the nominees and we greatly appreciate the time they spend doing this!

We would also like to thank everyone who supported us by attending the evening, helping us make it the success that it was.

Click here to download the Star Wrap (2.5Mb, 8 min dialup, 45 sec broadband).

Grand Final Luncheon

For more information or to find out how you can donate auction items please contact us.

The Grand Final Luncheon Charity Fundraiser was a huge success with the proceeds of $22,000.00 going to the Make –a-Wish Foundation. Thanks go to Rex Hunt who was the guest speaker, Tony Barber our MC and John Shore the auctioneer. A terrific day was had by all who attended. We would also like to thank the many local businesses who donated various items for auction. And of course, thanks to the Make-a-wish foundation volunteers who helped us make this day so successful.

Extra Special thanks to the sponsors:

Surdex Steel
A W Bell
MJC Partners
Ramada Encore
Coffey Ford
Angoves Wines
Pattisons
Snap Dandenong
The Journal

Trading Places

Trading places is a joint project between the City of Greater Dandenong the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce and the Dandenong Retailer’s Traders Association. The project provides a snap shot of local business today as well as unwrapping the stories behind the local traders both in written and picture form.

The project obtained expressions of interest from local traders in Central Dandenong and their stories were documented with photographic images taken that depict the unique characteristics of the business and the owners.

With this information, a 95 page book was produced and the launch of the book and images was held 4th May 2006 at Heritage Hill. The images from the book will be part of exhibitions in the future.

The book can be viewed on the City of Greater Dandenong website at http://www.greaterdandenong.com/documents.asp?ID=5064&Title=Upcoming+Events

you can get a copy of the book by contacting Deanne (03 97948881) at the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce office at a cost of $10.00.
 

Rewards for Commonwealth Games Volunteers

www.volunteerrewards.com.au

"They did not ask for it or expected it – so lets reward them for their wonderful work and generosity"

We are looking for businesses to join us in offering discounts to the Commonwealth Games Volunteers, please "check out" the new website via the link above and if you are able to assist us in this please email me at roy@rjsanderson.com.au or contact us via the website.

If you are unable to assist with discounts or sponsorship on the website, lets get together and make the volunteers aware of "its" existence.

This site is active from April 1st 2006 so we hope to increase the number of discounts on offer significantly over the coming weeks.

"We thank you, for helping us, thank our many volunteers."

Roy Sanderson
Accountant
R J Sanderson & Associates Pty Ltd
roy@rjsanderson.com.au
 

Local Corporate Social Responsibility

Over the last few years, businesses in Australia are adopting good Corporate Social Responsibility and locally, the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce is leading the way.
 
Five members of the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce gave up their day on Saturday 4th February, 2006 to provide mentoring to local community groups.
 
The mentors included:
Melinda Wright – Marketing Manager from GPT - Parkmore Shopping Centre,

Paul Arztenhofer, Operations Manager from Partner Call,
Christopher Andrews, Managing Director from Turn Hire, Marquees, events and functions,
Rabi Gunaratnam, Business Improvement Specialists – BizPower Business Consultants facilitator and mentor,

Peter Helmore, Group Business Manager, ESP Tecforce.

The City of Greater Dandenong and the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce have joined together in a very successful partnership implementing Corporate Social Responsibility with a program called the Mentoring and Community Development Program.
 
The aim of the program is to improve the skills and knowledge of community groups to improve their ability to meet the needs of their groups.
 
10 local community groups benefited from this partnership on Saturday with the business mentors providing advice on Marketing, Sponsorship/Partnerships, Planning and Development, Managing People and Memberships.
 
Feedback from the workshop has been very positive from both the business mentors and the local community groups.

From the business mentors:
 
Rabi Gunaratnam – “It was a pleasure to be of service to the community and look forward to many more opportunities”.
 
Melinda Wright – “The day was an interesting insight into the needs of the local community and rewarding to be able to have the opportunity to assist them.”
 
Paul Arztenhofer – “It was invigorating to see some of the groups gain new energies and ways to focus their drive”
 
Chris Andrews – “The program was very worthwhile and all participant’s obtained valuable knowledge”
 
Peter Helmore – “The day allowed for The Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce to provide some practical input into local community organisations and deliver significant outcomes for all”

From the local community groups:
 
Wellsprings for Women Inc. - “I learned the importance of understanding personalities and managing effective communication on committees – being organised is fundamental” & “Individual mentoring was very helpful”
 
Keysborough and District Senior Citizens - “We received some excellent answers” and this “Gave us the opportunity to hear other group’s points of view”
 
Dandenong Festival of Music and Art for Youth - “We would recommend these sessions to other groups because one can be enlightened when in doubt” and “To have a new look at our organisation – manpower and our program”.
 
Dandenong and District Historical Society - “We need to re-assess our priorities” & “We need to stand back and evaluate our organisation and our reason for being”.

For further information:
 

 

Local Member Wins Big with Melbourne Tigers Allwelt International, a local web design business and a Chamber member, has won the job of building a website for the National Basketball League's Melbourne Tigers Basketball Club. “I still can't believe it myself,” said Darius Mikolajewski, the owner of Allwelt International.

“We were up against big name firms from Sydney, including one company with their headquarters in New York, and we beat them,” Mr. Mikolajewski said.

For the Melbourne Tigers, being one of the hottest Basketball Clubs in Australia, the deciding factor was the speed of response to their needs.

“The website must be updated weekly in the off season and during the playing season, daily,” said Seamus McPeake, the Director of Tigers. “Darius is giving us unbelievable speed of response. I am absolutely wrapped with what he has done.'

“The Melbourne Tigers are a professional organisation and they need their suppliers to be able to respond to them professionally and quickly. Allwelt International has built its reputation on being reliable and very responsive to the needs of its customers. We guarantee changes on our web sites within 24 hours, but in practice it is usually much faster,” said Mr Mikolajewski.

Allwelt International is also the designer of this website. Click here for more information.