2013 Canberra BusinessPoint Awards

Canberra BusinessPoint , the ACT Government's business mentoring and advisory service, launched their annual awards on Wednesday 26 June 2013.

The Canberra BusinessPoint Awards, launched this year by Minister Barr MLA, ACT Minister for Economic Development and Chris Faulks, CEO Canberra Business Council, showcase the range and depth of successful businesses operating in the Canberra region. They include six award categories: Web and Mobile; Clean and Green; Bricks and Mortar; Creative and Design; Micro-enterprise; and High Growth. One winner from these categories will also be named the Canberra BusinessPoint Business of the Year.

“The Awards recognise small businesses that have interacted with the Canberra BusinessPoint Program and gone on to achieve success over the past 12 months” said Ms Faulks.

“They typify those businesses that have worked hard and been innovative in order to succeed and grow.”

 Anna Pino, CEO Lighthouse Business Innovation Centre commented “Winning a Canberra BusinessPoint Award is a great way for a business to showcase their achievements and raise their profile.”

At the launch, a number of the 2012 award winners spoke about their experience including Tom Henderson, owner of the 2012 Canberra BusinessPoint Business of the Year, Jigsaw Housing.

Mr Henderson set up Jigsaw Housing in 2010 alongside business partner and award winning Canberra architect, Andrew Verri. The pair shared a vision to apply intelligent design principles to create homes that were energy efficient, comfortable and affordable. To help start and grow their business, Jigsaw Housing worked with Canberra BusinessPoint and Lighthouse Business Innovation Centre , which also allowed them to access the Entrepreneur Development Fund .  Find out more about Jigsaw Housing involvement with Lighthouse .

“Last year’s winner of the Canberra BusinessPoint Business of the Year Award is an example of the calibre of ACT businesses and their success in identifying and servicing new, niche or expanding markets,” said Ms Faulks.

Jigsaw Housing has now become a leader in the innovative, emerging field of integrative design offering a comprehensive energy efficient-focused, residential building services including design, construction and thermal performance assessment. They were named business of the year after winning the Clean and Green Category at the 2012 awards. Find out more about Jigsaw Housing .

Other winners in the 2012 Canberra BusinessPoint Awards include CloudCentral, who took out the Web and Mobile category. CloudCentral offers highly scalable, secure, dynamic cloud infrastructure services, with a focus on providing services to Australian software developers, IT service providers, enterprise and government customers. They too have been involved with Canberra BusinessPoint and Lighthouse, and have also received financial support through the ACT Government’s Innovation Connect grant program.

“CloudCentral is currently facing the challenges of any rapidly growing startup company which include sourcing the right people, establishing a quality management team, and raising capital. We are actively engaging with the ACT Government, Lighthouse Business Innovation Centre and Canberra BusinessPoint to help us overcome these challenges presented" said Kris Sheather, founder of CloudCentral after the win. Find out more about Cloud Central .

Applications are now open for the 2013 Canberra BusinessPoint Awards. Entries close 5pm 23 August 2013.

Winners of the awards will be announced at the Award Ceremony on 21 November 2013.

Find out more about the 2013 Canberra BusinessPoint Awards .