2022 Geelong Business Excellence Awards – Winners Announced

Along with the Geelong Business Excellence Awards’ major sponsor LBW Business + Wealth Advisors, the Geelong Chamber of Commerce would like to congratulate the 2022 winners and finalists of the Geelong Business Excellence Awards.

The awards program celebrated the clever, creative and connected business community with a glamourous event held face-to-face for the first time in three years.

Walking along the red carpet into GMHBA Stadium, award guests were dazzled by a magnificently set up President’s Room. Renown television personality Nicky Buckley hosted the awards night with 20 category winners announced across three stages and entertainment provided throughout the evening by local band Good Faces for Radio. With 800 people attending the event, this year’s awards were the largest in-person awards celebration the Geelong Chamber of Commerce has ever put on while also streaming the awards live across Facebook.

Chamber president John Stekelenburg said, “It’s so important to recognise those businesses and leaders who have stared down the challenge, embraced the opportunity and taken everyone around them on a very special journey.”

Congratulations to all GBEA category winners and sponsors below.

Category Winners & Sponsors

Custom Neon wins Business of the Year Award

Custom Neon won the prestigious Business of the Year Award sponsored by LBW Business + Wealth Advisors. The judges were thoroughly impressed with the growth and expansion of the Custom Neon business. To start from their garage in 2018 and now have a global business with USA and UK markets and onsite teams in those countries is outstanding. The marketing of the business supports its fun and professional brand and has segmented their target markets to maximise their sales. The judges thought that Custom Neon have very good people and culture which includes great initiatives, training and OH&S policies. Moreover, the judges found their financial management practices were second to none.

First carbon neutral Awards night ever

Besides being the biggest awards presentation held in the history of the awards, the 2022 Geelong Business Excellence Awards were also the first ever carbon neutral awards event. This is a great step for Geelong in showing a major event can be held in a sustainable manor. In close collaboration with Climate Society, the carbon footprint of the awards were estimated and recommendations put in place to decrease carbon emissions. Table numbers were provided to guests ahead of time to ensure tickets were not printed. A QR code on a business card-sized tag, embedded with seeds on a 100% recycled cardboard included the menu, order of proceedings & sponsor messages. Moreover, the table decorations consisted of a potted, Australian native plant, which guests were encouraged to take home and plant after the event.

Higher Mark – Geelong Cats was able to engage 17 local suppliers for an outstanding menu showcasing the best the region has to offer while also minimising the carbon footprint of the night’s dinner.

Acknowledgements

The Geelong Chamber of Commerce would like to thank our major sponsor LBW Business + Wealth Advisors for their ongoing support. We would also like to thank all category sponsors, our award partners, event partners, media partners, as well as all guests of the event and everyone involved in making the night happen and keeping the awards presentation night carbon neutral.