With International Women’s Day just around the corner on Sunday 8 March, it’s appropriate timing for the annual Australian Businesswomen’s Network to announce the 2015 entrants into its Hall of Fame. The 2015 honours – the 17th year of the awards — salute 18 female entrepreneurs from a broad spectrum of fields, ranging from high fashion to fitness, manufacturing, travel and primary industry.
Like those before them, these women are all groundbreakers who blaze a path and inspire other women to strive and succeed. The 2015 ABN Hall of Fame inductees are:
- Abigail Forsyth, KeepCup – VIC
- Audette Exel, Adara Group – NSW
- Barb de Corti, ENJO – WA
- Camilla Franks, Camilla – NSW
- Cathie Reid, Epic Pharmacy – QLD
- Jean Madden, Street Swags – QLD
- Juliette Wright, GIVIT – QLD
- Kate Morris, Adore Beauty – VIC
- Kate Weiss, Table of Plenty – VIC
- Louise Olsen, Dinosaur Designs – NSW
- Mia Freedman, Mamamia – VIC
- Michelle Bridges, Michelle Bridges – NSW
- Narelle Anderson, Envirobank – NSW
- Natalie Archer, Bendelta – NSW
- Penny Spencer, Spencer Travel – NSW
- Pip Job, Little River Landcare Group Inc. – NSW
- Ulli Spranz, B.-d. Farm Paris Creek – SA
- Vanya Cullen, Cullen Wines – WA
“The ABN Hall of Fame is designed to inspire Australian women with stories of entrepreneurial success and notable achievements from stand out female business owners. The aim is to shine a light on female entrepreneurs, a group that is underrepresented by other awards programs,” ABN CEO Suzi Dafnis said.
“The women were chosen as Hall of Fame recipients because of their exemplary achievements and because they are shining examples for women who have started or are looking to start their own business.”
As in previous years, each of the inductees contributes their story, tips and strategies to a downloadable publication available at http://www.abn.org.au/halloffame.
Over the years since the Hall of Fame was established, more than 180 women have been inducted, including food guru Maggie Beer, designer Liz Davenport, model pioneer June Dally-Watkins, designer Collette Dinnigan, sports star Lisa Curry, Naomi Simson, Lisa McGuigan, Janine Allis, Kristina Karlsson and Lorna Jane.
“The Businesswomen’s Hall of Fame aims to celebrate successful female business owners through sharing their stories, to inspire and empower other female entrepreneurs,” Ms Dafnis said.
For more information and to learn about the 2015 ABN Hall of Fame inductees, visit http://www.abn.org.au/businesswomens-hall-of-fame/about.
Editor’s note
Here are some of the ABN 2015 Hall of Fame inductees’ strategies for business success:
- Passion. Cathie Reid of Epic Pharmacy Group says owning a business is hard work and if you are not filled with passion about what you do, it makes it hard to get out of bed on the tough days. “If you are not ‘out of your skin’ excited about what you’re doing more days than not, look at what you need to change to get back to that mindset, and make it happen.”
- Purpose. Barb de Corti of ENJO says make sure your business has a purpose. “Ask yourself what will it achieve for yourself and others? Many ideas fail because success doesn’t just come from a passion – the purpose needs to be there.”
- Teamwork. Audette Exel of Adara Group says don’t imagine for a second that you can do this alone. “My career has been built with a great team, working with a shared vision. My biggest failures have come from the times I acted alone and the successes have come from working in a team. Adara is successful because we have built a diverse team.”
- Lead by example. Penny Spencer of Spencer Travel says it is always best to lead by example. “As a leader you need to ensure people want to follow you. The only way to ensure this is to do as you say, walk the talk to earn the respect and trust from your followers.”
- Don’t take no for an answer. Michelle Bridges of 12WBT says if you don’t believe in what you are doing and who you are, then go back to the drawing board and figure it out. “Listen. Still do your thing, the way you do, with your unique flair, but listen to solid feedback and tweak your idea. It’s one thing to be bullish, another to be bull-headed.”
A full list of strategies is available upon request or by download at www.abn.org.au/halloffame.