Tuesday night saw the conclusion of the 2010 Small Business Development Conference (SBDC) featuring the Business Enterprise Centres Australia (BECA) Awards for Performance presented at the gala dinner.
The big winners of the night were:
- Lynette Hay, Business Enterprise Centre (BEC) Manager of the Year (Port Adelaide BEC, SA)
- The St George/Sutherland Shire BEC (NSW), Metropolitan BEC of the Year
- Small Business Centre Great Southern (WA), Best Regional BEC winner.
The awards were proudly sponsored by business.gov.au and recognised high achievement in the business advisory sector.
"The 2010 BECA Awards for Performance were the culmination of another year of hard work from all BEC staff. Being able to get together and celebrate our achievements over the last year is an important reward for every one of us involved in business development in Australia," said David Baumgarten, the recently appointed chair of BECA.
The SBDC, which took place over three days in Cairns, is a professional development event which brings business advisors from around the country together.
The event was opened on Sunday by Mr Baumgarten with the theme of recovery, referencing both the global economic downturn and the Victorian bushfires.
One of the highlights of day two was a keynote address from Janine Allis, owner of Boost Juice. The day also included Polly McGee and Amanda Castray on 'Commercialisation through collaborations in Regional and Remote Settings - a Tasmanian Case Study' and University of Western Sydney professor Geoff Lee on the 'Winning Business Online program'.
After letting their hair down at the 'Gone Troppo' networking event on Monday night, delegates kicked off day three of the conference with a presentation about enterprise development in indigenous communities from local entrepreneur Gerhardt Pearson. The conference program concluded with a presentation from business.gov.au's Mike Sibly and Graham Thomas, which highlighted the services on business.gov.au designed to help business advisors, including the new iPhone application and recently updated Grants & Assistance Finder.
A presentation on day two by Petrina Jude on 'Things Women Do Better!', became particularly relevant when the major award winners were announced on Tuesday—each award winner was a BEC managed by women. BECA has also just elected its first ever female Deputy Chair, Suzanne Devine, who is also a former business.gov.au BECA award winner.
business.gov.au provided live reports and daily wraps throughout the event via social media services, twitter and facebook .
Search for a BEC or Small Business Advisory Service in your area by using our Directory of goverment and business associations.
