The winners of the 25th annual Ethnic Business Awards were announced last night, at a special Gala Presentation Dinner in the Great Hall of Parliament House, Canberra, attended by 300 guests, including Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott.
This year the awards celebrated their 25th anniversary, with finalists drawn from a select list of past winners and finalists to mark the milestone.
A ‘Champion of Champions’ was crowned in three categories:
Henry Kei Shing Ngai of NSW, who migrated from China in 1985, won the Champion of Champions All Winners category for his business ABC Tissue Products.
The prize for the Champion of Champions All Finalist category went to Antonio Romeo, who moved to South Australia from Italy in 1956 and gradually built up his independent family-owned supermarket chain, Romeo Retail Group.
Daniel Tucker of Western Australia was awarded the Champion of Champions Indigenous in Business category for the multi-million dollar business, Carey Mining.
The Ethnic Business Awards recognise the success of business owners from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. SBS has sponsored and broadcast the awards – Australia’s longest running and widely respected national business awards – since its inception.
SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid said: “The Ethnic Business Awards shine a light on the stories of challenge, triumph and diversity within Australia’s business community. It has a shared goal with SBS to celebrate the people and stories which underpin Australia’s success as a migrant nation, and in so doing, to help all Australians appreciate the value of diversity.”
Michael Ebeid also paid tribute to founder, Joseph Assaf AM, saying “Joseph’s commitment, together with his own contributions to business life, has had an enormous impact on how we value multiculturalism and has inspired many others to embrace the great opportunities in Australia. SBS is proud to have been part of his journey with the Ethnic Business Awards”.
The Ethnic Business Awards will be broadcast on Saturday 6 July, at 4pm on SBS ONE.
It will be repeated Friday 12 July at 9pm on NITV, and on Monday 15 July at 1pm on SBS ONE.