The Sydney Young Entrepreneur Awards are back with a star-studded line-up tonight

The Sydney Young Entrepreneur Awards are back with a star-studded line-up tonight

Sydney is roaring back to its usual self tonight with finalists in the city’s 2021 Young Entrepreneur Awards ready to celebrate their outstanding achievements, overcoming the odds to make a positive impact on the nation's business scene.

Following sold-out gala dinners in Brisbane and the Gold Coast last month, guests will gather at the ivy Ballroom for a ceremony like no other, possible only because of the nation-leading efforts by Sydneysiders in rolling up their sleeves and coming out of lockdown restrictions to emerge stronger than ever.

As seen in the list below, the finalists form an extremely diverse group which generated more than $1.2 billion in FY21, and created job opportunities for around 3,500 people, demonstrating their contribution to not only NSW’s economy but Australia’s too.

Tonight, following a comprehensive judging process and many hours of interviews with Business News Australia journalists, winners will be announced across 19 categories at the gala dinner.

All finalists are also up for the coveted Trailblazer Award which recognises a founder and their business on the precipice of massive growth, but only one will take out the top gong: the 2021 Sydney Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Last year, Izhar Basha claimed that title, but was unable to celebrate the win in-person due to COVID-19 restrictions at the time that made it impossible to run an event in its true spirit. But Basha is back again this year, aiming to go two-for-two with his fitness and supplements empire EHPlabs.

Young Entrepreneur Awards founder Camilla Jansen said she was thrilled to be able to put on tonight’s ceremony, now that eased restrictions in Sydney mean the show can ahead.

“It has been a while since we last got to gather in-person with our Sydney Young Entrepreneurs, but I am so pleased we’ll be able to celebrate everyone’s mammoth achievements and hopefully bid farewell to the stresses of the last two years,” she said.

“While there will be winners announced tonight, it is a huge honour to simply be named a finalist. We’ve loved hearing your stories about the highs and lows of 2021, and the talent in the room tonight will be phenomenal.

“I’d also like to thank our sponsors Instyle Solar, The Entourage, UNSW Founders, Venture Crowd, FuPay, Yellow Panda and Ivvy.”

Aside from the two major awards of Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Trailblazer, the gala will span a range of sectors with 19 different award categories including:

  • Arts & Culture
  • Digital Disruptor
  • Fashion Design
  • Finance
  • Fitness
  • Food & Beverage
  • Health & Medicine
  • Hospitality & Tourism
  • Legal Services
  • Manufacturing, Wholesale & Distribution
  • Marketing
  • PR, Media & Events
  • Professional Services
  • Property & Construction
  • Retail & Services
  • Sustainability & Social Responsibility
  • Specialist Services
  • Startup
  • Technology

The finalists in the 2021 Sydney Young Entrepreneur Awards are as follows (in alphabetical order by company):

Jaya Yoannidis - A Man & His Cave 

Jill Berry and Shane Doolan - Adatree  

Kevin Laws -  Advanced Alloy Holdings  

Tarla Lambert and Angela Priestley - Agenda Media  

Ammar Issa - AMR Hair & Beauty, Fanola AU, Hey Stacey, Beauty Systems Group, Fanola UK, AMR UK, Inebrya AU, Roaman Smile, Heir Watches

Ben Coorey and Rob Coorey - Archistar  

Samuel Wood - Azura Fashion Group, Azura Runway, Azura Exchange, Azura Collection, Azura Fit, Azura Consulting, Azura Chic 

Jason Hood -  BourkeHood, BourkeHood Ventures, Kapvista, Kapvista Ventures, BourkeHood Capital and RobustClaims 

Kurtis Bosley - CBK Hospitality Group, Banco Manly, Corretto Dee Why, CBK Hospitality and TwentyFour Bar & Restaurant

Allen Fu and Xixi Liu - CheekyGlo  

John Tabari and Iain Wang - ClassBento  

Emily Bobis, Angus McDonald and Ben Hinchley - Compass IoT  

Kirsten Kore - Designerex  

Alexander Keach - ECS Botanics 

Izhar Basha - EHPlabs  

Jade Spooner and Amal Wakim - Equalution  

Andrew El-Bayeh and Rebecca Gibbs - Example and Example House 

Will Morgan and Andy Skora -  FELLR Drinks  

Justin Ashley and Serra Burmin - Fitness Playground and Fitness Playground Academy 

Dale Brett and Rani Adam - FL0  

Ben Lipschitz and Tim Chandler Gary Munitz - FoodByUs  

George Papura - Georgiemane  

Neil McVeigh and Tom Ferrier - Greener  

Ayda Shabanzadeh and Darrin Leung - Grow Group

Lisa Lin - Hey Mama  

Matthew Holloway - Holloway Group, GEOHEX, Biax, AusDrain, 3D Pulse, Group Tooling and A Plus Plastics

Nicole Merrillees - IMBER  

Alan Sacharowitz and Dani Carr - Infinite Cycle International  

Arjun Paliwal - InvestorKit  

Jack Petersen - InVista Group Australia and InVista Audio Visual 

Nicole Liu - Kin Fertility  

Anna Podolsky - Lyka Pet Food  

Alexis Soulopoulos – Mad Paws, Mad Paws Care, Mad Paws Food, Mad Paws Joy and Mad Paws Health

Abdul Razak and Samira Razak - Maple Community Services  

Travis Fernandez - Martial Arts Spirit Health & Fitness Academy and Hidden Leaf Productions  

Cassandra Hili - Millennium Communications  

Daniel Messina - NXTGEN Industries  

Anson Zhang and Jeff Yu - One Stop Warehouse, Discover Energy 

Joanna Auburn and Cat Long - Our trace Pty, est2026 

Salpi Markarian and Jacob Markarian - OWEST  

Anthony Nappa and Guy Nappa - Oz Hair & Beauty  

Alison Green - Pantera Press  

Jonathan Moody - Physio Inq  

Paul Eastwood - Pollen Consulting Group  

Chadi Irani - Powerhouse Law Australia  

Danny Cohen - ProofTec  

Zakaria Bouguettaya and Moe Satti - QPay  

Nathan Rust - Safetyline Jalousie  

Lisa Qi and Louise Chen - Share with Oscar  

Rob Hango-Zada and William On - Shippit  

Daniele Tanner and Jonathon Tanner - Social Media College  

Vish Batth - Solar Power Nation  

Katya Vakulenko - Soup Agency  

Alison Egan – Sparkling White Smiles, Aylba and Institute of Aesthetic Teeth Whitening

Alex Solo and Tomoyuki Hachigo - Sprintlaw  

Phil Stormer and Joel Stormer - Stormer Music, Brightside Music 

Rachael Tyers - tbh Skincare  

Aaron Bassin - TechLend  

Ryan Channing - The Blaq Group  

Lelde Smits and Julia Maguire - The Capital Network  

Patrick Akkawi - The Marketing Group, The Local Hub Platform 

Hannah Moreno - Third Hemisphere  

Hiral Shah and Jigar Shah - Trikon,  Anaxus Infotech 

Heidi Peuten and Vasia Vogias, Ulu Hye Mylk Bases  

Adrian Johnston - UNA Brands  

Vanessa Vu - UNA International  

Cameron Grant and Christopher Grant  - Unyoked  

Aden Levin and James Farrell  - Viral Ventures, Hidden 

Tim Veron - Vively, Natural Therapy Pages, Honee 

James O'Neill and Alberto Capponi - WildJar  

Raj Singh - Windsor & Lux  

Carlos Ferri - Zapala Company, Shipeezi, Maple Bear Australia, Studio7 

Zoe Seymour - ZO Personalised  

Mina Nada and Michael Johnson - Zoomo  

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