Newcastle and Lake Mac female entrepreneurs are among the finalists for the national award

Women from the property, fitness, food, communications and performing arts industries in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie are among the finalists in the 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.

The 19 carefully selected participants finished first, ahead of thousands of participants from across Australia.

The annual awards program is designed to highlight the growing economic, cultural and social contributions of women-led small businesses.

It includes all capital cities, as well as rural, regional and suburban towns.

The 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards are now in their third year and span more than 60 categories across the retail, services and manufacturing industries.

Participants will be assessed by an independent, expert jury based on strict criteria.

“We are in the midst of an era of female entrepreneurship empowerment,” said Steve Loe, founder of the award.

“Despite today’s high cost of living and the numerous challenges that come with owning a small business, Australian women – absolutely including businesswomen from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie – are simply pushing through and showing incredible resilience and drive across all sectors of small business.

“We received a large number of high quality entries and shortlisting this year’s finalists was a challenge for our judges.

“When judging the entries, the champion judges consider all aspects of a company: its strategies, growth, environmental sustainability, innovation, customer service and community support – to name just a few criteria.

“The next rounds of judging will be intensive as we continue to evaluate the performance of this year’s finalists to determine a winner in each category,” said Mr. Loe.

The 19 finalists from Newcastle and Lake Macquarie are:

• Raine & Horne Belmont (Real Estate)
• Nisha Property Management – ​​Charlestown (Real Estate)
• Aquastars Swim School & Fitness – Warners Bay (Educational Services)
• Valorium Advisors – Toronto (Accounting)
• Freedom comes from within – Boolaroo (Business Coaching)
• Time to backpack – Wallsend (Tourism)
• Lifestyle Pilates and Rehabilitation Studio – Adamstown (Fitness Services)
• CORE RESTORE CO – Caringbah (Health Improvement Services)
• CK Health and Wellbeing – Merewether (Health Improvement Services)
• Tailored HQ – New Lambton Heights (Home Improvement Services)
• Transcend Health – Broadmeadow (Health Improvement Services)
• Mindful Soul Collective – Shortland (Health Improvement Services)
• Unraveling Bureaucracy – Merewether (Specialist Small Business)
• The Puff House – Broadmeadow (Fast Food/Takeaway)
• Mint Business Centre – Maryville (business services)
• Jaimie Abbott Communications – Georgetown (Female Online Business Icon and Australian Small Business Champion)
• Prodigy Dance Australia – Lambton (Performing Arts)
• WWYW Australia – Cooks Hill (non-profit small business)
• The Change Factor (IT)

The winners of the 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards will be announced on Saturday 24 August.

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