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Homes by CMA and No Limit Developments founder Chris Baptista has won the Brisbane Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the second year running, edging ahead of formidable competitors from the river city as the only sole founder to ever achieve this goal.
The last time anyone received this accolade for two consecutive years was more than a decade ago when Anthony Yap and Hahn Lu of Good Price Pharmacy Group received the prize in 2012 and 2013.
Not only did he win within an outstanding cohort of property entrepreneurs, but judges also picked Baptista for the initiative's highest recognition ahead of other contenders including Peter Dodeja of SAI Security Group, Daniel Mikus and James Rolph of MR Roads, and Daniel Wessels of Jacaranda Finance.
Past winners at the event in recent years include the founders of edtech Go1, crypto trading platform Swyftx, and Instyle Solar, among others.
Baptista, who has now won the Brisbane Young Entrepreneur Award for Property & Construction five times and took home the accolade nationally on four occasions, takes pride in his companies' external debt-free status and net margins that exceed industry norms, all while offering homes at relatively affordable price points.
"Our homes are tailored to meet the needs of first and second-time homeowners seeking a superior home that can be customised to their preferences, all offered at an affordable price," Baptista explains.
"This customisation capability sets us apart as a unique player in the market. Unlike other builders of our scale, we provide a custom home service that involves intricate details and a high level of personalised customer care.
"Regarding both Homes by CMA and No Limit Developments, our primary focus remains on driving growth while simultaneously increasing our customer service and maintaining the current profit margin, which is a challenging task."
He attributes an "incredible surge in profits" to stringent cost management practices.
"Following the stabilisation of costs after the home builders' grant rush, we have successfully implemented various systems to control expenditures at project sites, resulting in a significant reduction in cost overruns," he says.
"As an entrepreneur that is continuously learning, I've come to realise that knowing your numbers with precision is more important than anything else.
"On top of that, we have dramatically increased speed across the board from initial deposit to completion of a new home and will continue to improve systems and increase speed."
The restless, French-born Baptista knew from an early age that he wanted to be an entrepreneur, with an insatiable work ethic inherited from his Portuguese father and Polish mother.
"Once I finished university, I already knew I was going to launch my own business and I had already analysed the home building industry in detail. And in February 2009, Homes by CMA was born," he says.
Following the success of Homes by CMA, Baptista has been reinvesting all free cash generated into No Limit Developments, which involves buying premium land and building high-end homes for speculative sales. This newer business currently has 11 projects, all located on the Redcliffe Peninsula north of Brisbane.
This compares to 250 homes delivered by Homes by CMA in FY24, and a record-breaking 188 new homes sold in the first six months of the 2024 calendar year.
Chris Baptista was just one example of the impressive finalists on display at the 2024 Brisbane Young Entrepreneur Awards, which took place at Howard Smith Wharves and was supported by corporate partners Soda, MGI, University of Queensland (UQ) Ventures, Coraggio, EO Queensland, Brisbane City Council, SAI Security and iVvy.
We would like to extend a special thank you to our judges: Dr Glen Richards, Michelle Laforest, Karl Brown, Baden U’ren, Zee Zhang, James Greig, Robert Hynes, and Renee Tocco for their time and expertise.
See below for all winners from the night, and we thank all participants for sharing their stories with Business News Australia.
- Young Entrepreneur of the Year - Chris Baptista (Homes by CMA, No Limit Developments)
- Trailblazer of the Year - Tony Chan (Wagepay)
- Digital Disruptor - Angus McLachlan & Tim Dart (Bopple)
- Finance - Daniel Wessels (Jacaranda Finance)
- Fitness - Georgio Batsinilas (Fitaz)
- Food & Beverage - Myrrah Balasabas and Joshua Spurway (Vision Made Co.)
- Health & Medicine - Nic Blair & Matt Anderson (Midnight Health)
- Legal - Courtney Lockett (Lockett McCullough Lawyers)
- Manufacturing, Wholesale & Distribution - Christopher Ashford (All Purpose Coatings, Vanta X Group, Resi Art)
- Marketing - Patty Roberts & Ro Taylor-Griffiths (The Tides Creative Production)
- PR, Media & Events - Thomas Fu and Tom Mcpherson (Motor Culture Australia)
- Professional Services - Peter Dodeja (SAI Security Group, SAI Investments Group)
- Property & Construction - Chris Baptista (Homes by CMA)
- Retail & Services - James Mutton (Motorcycle Trading)
- Specialist Services - Daniel Mikus & James Rolph (MR Roads)
- Startup - Ellie Kim (Adore Dental)
- Technology - Tim Rogers, Nathan Dench, Tom Newby, Jesse Dymond & Alastair Blenkin (ProcurePro)
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