Tutoring students who fall below national literacy and numeracy benchmarks is a growing area of business for Essendon-based ATS Australian Educational Group, trading as Advanced Tutoring School (A.T.S). The business provides each student under tuition with an individual learning plan to help them succeed regardless of whether they receive one-on-one tutoring or attend the small group learning classes. Established by a group of women teachers in 2007, A.T.S. rigorously tested its potential through marketing presentations to school councils, sponsorships of educational conferences, visits to kindergartens and bookshops. Government-funded programs were key targets and now A.T.S. is contracted by the Department of Education, the Catholic Education Department for its Indigenous Education Program, Anglicare and Carers Link. With 700 staff contracted on its books, A.T.S. has invested in an online time sheet and invoicing system to improve its efficiency.

“Our passion it to make the student a life-long learner and fill any educational gaps they may have and advance their progress,” — Catherine Howe-Nitz, Co-Director.

Working four different jobs and retrenchment from one in 1994 was a catalyst for Paula Heenan pursuing her first love of teaching music. She first undertook a New Enterprise Incentive Scheme program before establishing the Ballarat Centre of Music and the Arts (BCMA). BCMA offers tuition in dance, music and drama and has evolved to include costume and equipment hire, workshops and performances. With 27 contracted teachers and three trainees for more than 600 students, it’s a far cry from when Paula acted as teacher, administrator and manager with a clientele of 22 students. Paula says BCMA provides students with a positive, energetic environment to gain confidence, self-discipline, and respect for others. Paula, a single mother of five children, offers family-friendly tuition timetables which allow two, three or four children from the same family to attend BCMA courses at the same time.

”The two biggest lessons that I have learned have become my catch–cries — ‘This too will pass’ and ‘Maintain your integrity’ ” — Paula Heenan, Proprietor.

When Carole Willman moved from the city to a five acre block in 1980, she received a cow as a housewarming present. An excess of milk led Carole to study cheese making and in 1986 she turned her passion into a business at Little River, 50 kilometres south-west of Melbourne. Cheeselinks is a family-owned business with a million-dollar turnover which specialises in selling cheese and yoghurt–making ingredients and equipment, as well as providing technical advice and education to cheese makers. Carole’s customers range from people making cheese at home to commercial cheese factories in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia–Pacific. Undeterred by a lack of interest from publishers, Carole put her secrets into a book and self-published Home Cheesemaking, which has sold 30,000 copies. A master cheese maker, Carole runs 100 weekend workshops a year including one for blues lovers — that’s Stilton, Gorgonzola and Roquefort style cheeses — that is accompanied by blues music.

“Our growth depends on having more people eating and making cheese and we help facilitate this through education and awareness,” — Carole Willman, Business Owner.

When Catherine Barolo opened her first boutique in 2010 it was the latest step on a journey that started seven years ago. The eureka moment struck while breast feeding her third son, when Catherine was inspired to design a T-shirt maternity bra that women would look great in. After researching her non-wired, softly-padded creation to confirm its originality, she found a manufacturer/wholesaler who loved the idea. Five months later, the Didge Designs maternity bra was selling in stores across Australasia and in 2005 Catherine was able to become her own customer when she had her fourth child. From a company founded for less than $1500, Didge Designs now offers a collection of unique apparel in its Oakleigh East boutique that include nursing tops, lounge pants and maternity knickers. Catherine says she is now ready to take on the world with the maternity collection made by a mother for mothers.

“I searched everywhere for a maternity bra that resembled my prototype and found nothing,” — Catherine Barolo, CEO.

It’s no surprise that James Grima turned 20 years of experience in food retailing into a training program business for Australia’s food industry. Opening his first pizza outlet at 19, he built a chain of 12 stores employing 500 staff. By 2004 his Pizza Lovers brand, which had produced two million pizzas, was acquired by Domino’s Pizza. Now, as founder and CEO of Positive Training Solutions, James has trained more than 2000 food retail employees across Australia. James markets his Donvale-based company as the only registered training organisation specialising in delivering retail certificate training to food retail franchises. After seeking strategic advice about online marketing in 2009, traffic on his new website exploded, bringing a growing list of business leads.

“Listen to people. You can learn from all the people around you – staff, clients, contacts, family and friends,” — James Grima, Director.

Vern Ryan set up a weekend dog obedience school 33 years ago after his pet had a poor experience at a training club. Determined to be different by teaching the value of a well-balanced, socialised dog, Vern expanded his business into other areas of pet ownership when he started to build a pet resort at Balliang East. Opening the modern kennel facility in 1999, he also introduced hand-made leather equipment and expanded to offer a cattery in 2007. With three full–time staff and six casuals, Vern says his staff to animal ratio is the best in the industry. More than 50 veterinarians, pet stores and dog day–care centres across Melbourne act as collection points for animals staying at Vern’s boarding facility. More recently Vern has taken action to improve his online search results for his business, significantly increasing revenue from the dog training school and boarding.

“We introduced stimulation programs for the dogs to promote good health and prevent them stressing about the owners during their stay,” — Vern Ryan, Proprietor.

Identifying a niche in the commercial property market opened the way for the 2005 launch of Independent Racking Inspections & Audits. It followed the growth of its parent company, logistics consultants Agilistics, and demands from clients who wanted independent inspections of their warehouse steel pallet racking to ensure workspace safety for customers, employees and assets. To help achieve this, the business developed a software program from scratch which gives clients online reports on damage to individual sites or across their whole business. Their first client was a large Australian hardware retailer with a major investment in its racking and by 2008 the company was conducting audits for a global records management company in 22 countries. In 2009 the company’s inspectors, who have risen from one to eight, carried out 950 audits worldwide.

“A key lesson we have learnt is to listen to the needs of our customers and be prepared to adapt to changing situations,” — Jayne Helding, Business Manager.

Relocating from the UK to Australia led anaesthetist Dr Sud Agarwal and Human Resources Manager Corrine Taylor to set up a recruitment company for doctors in 2001. Having identified the gap, they set up their business to assist international doctors find appropriate work and provide support around medical board registration, visas, insurance and relocation. A strong focus on locations with the greatest need has seen the business achieve medical placements in Weipa in North Queensland and the Gove Peninsula, Thursday Island and in remote communities in the Northern Territory. International Medical Recruitment is now the market leader in recruiting permanent and locum doctors in Australia and New Zealand, with its quality assurance ensuring the business remains in high demand.

"The company has grown to include dedicated divisions focusing on both the permanent and locum recruitment of doctors across all specialties and seniorities, including mental health professionals, GPs, junior doctors, and highly experienced specialists," — Robert Embury, Recruitment Manager.

A strong local reputation in Sale was an advantage for MG Financial Planning when it was bidding against a national incumbent for the local Credit Union business. The contract was hotly sought after by other local competitors too, so winning it was a major success for MG Financial Planning. The company was established in 2001 when it added a financial planning service to an existing accountancy practice. Director Gary Lucas says MG Financial Planning’s 13 staff have driven the success of the business with dedication to quality service, particularly in substantial client portfolio reviews, and a strong focus on continuous improvement. MG Financial Planning adds value by delivering strategies that focus on the client goals and aim to deliver above average performance for its 900 clients. The company’s experience and advice has helped to protect clients from failed investments that have received prominence in recent years.

“Regular contact with our client base has been key to our marketing, and during difficult times such as the global financial crisis we increased contact,” — Gary Lucas Director, MG Financial Planning Pty Ltd.

In 2006, Rachael Edginton started PLUM Communication with a laptop in her lounge room. Growing by reinvesting its profits without taking a bank loan, the business now has an office in Collins Street with up to 30 staff in peak times. PLUM provides communication consulting services, and sources communication and community engagement professionals for major projects, assisting clients by screening applications, setting KPIs with the contractors and providing regular coaching. In the past three years, it has managed and provided communications resource for construction and infrastructure projects worth more than $500 billion, and for national food industry mergers and acquisitions. Rachael says the $280 million modernisation of Shepparton’s foodbowl irrigation region was the company’s biggest success – PLUM successfully hired and trained local farmers to be community engagement representatives.

“I like to say that we are providing a consulting service at contracting prices,” — Rachael Edginton, Founder and Managing Director.

The Coaching Institute founder Sharon Pearson encourages a culture of excellence in her business with what she calls the CAN-I principle (Constant And Never-Ending Improvement). Established in 2005, the South Melbourne business is an Australian leader in training Coaches in Life, Leadership or Business Coaching. Sharon’s determination to raise the standard of Coach Training and help drive positive change in the lives of individuals led her to identify the need for an Australian Government accredited Diploma in Life Coaching. Not only did she write the course herself, The Coaching Institute was the first School to deliver a Diploma which gave The Institute a competitive advantage. The nationally and internationally accredited coaching school has 14 staff and recently enrolled its 1600th student. Their latest innovation is the Mastermind Program where participants learn the latest business and marketing strategies to propel their coaching business success.

“A key objective is the growth of The Coaching Institute Foundation through which we give back to society,” — Sharon Pearson, Director.

JDS Australia is a consulting company specialising in software testing monitoring and IT system management processes of clients’ critical IT systems. JDS’s business is focused on technical testing for performance and security of large IT systems and their ongoing monitoring of these systems. In the complex and ever-changing IT landscape, Managing Director John Bearsley says JDS Australia strives to be a great place to work and as a result has a very low staff turnover. Established in 2003 with three staff in Melbourne, the business has grown to 40 IT consultants with offices in Brisbane and Sydney. It reached a watershed in 2006 when HP Software took over Mercury Interactive, JDS’s software partner. Although it became a small fish in a large fishbowl, in the words of John Bearsley, JDS has won HP Partner of the Year awards in each subsequent year including the 2009 South Pacific award.

“Retaining great people, and making them better with training and experience, provides us with highly regarded specialist skills that are the best in the market,” mdash; John Bearsley, Managing Director.

When hospitals are short staffed, they turn to Medic Oncall to find a doctor who can assist. Medic Oncall was established ten years ago by Melissa Bennett and Dr Joseph Sgroi in response to a gap in the Victorian medical locum market. Starting from a home office on the Mornington Peninsula with two staff and 20 registered medical practitioners in Victoria, Medic Oncall now has a $2.5 million turnover, 22 staff, a state-of-the-art call centre and 6000 medical practitioners available to work with clients across Australia and New Zealand. This growth has been achieved as a result of its positive reputation, innovative pricing and high quality service to both medical practitioners and clients. Further differentiation has been provided by Medic Oncall’s recent ISO 9001 Quality Accreditation and RCSA Service Delivery Accreditation status.

”Entrance to the under-serviced South Australian market was our most successful marketing activity in the past 12 months,” — Melissa Bennett, Managing Director.

Melbourne Medical Deputising Service (MMDS) provides urgent after hours medical care at home every day of the year for the patients of 650 general practice clinics in Melbourne and Geelong. Josie Adams Executive Director says the service, founded more than 30 years ago, ensures that patients including the most vulnerable people in the community – from the disabled to aged care residents and single parent families – can receive home visits after the GP clinics close. The growth of its registered GP clients, from just four in 1979 to 3000 today, is one indicator of MMDS’s value to Victoria’s health services. Another is its ability to reduce the strain on Ambulance Victoria and public hospitals. In 2009, MMDS treated 113,000 patients through its service and helped them avoid a visit to an emergency department. The Port Melbourne business operates with 15 part-time call centre staff, 75 part-time doctors and 10 administration staff who make certain that reports of consultations to the patient’s GP arrive the next day to ensure continuity of care.

“I invest in the professional development of all my team and share my knowledge of the health care industry and public policy with my successors,” — Josie Adams, Executive Director.

Making sure a major football code has a sustainable energy policy and measuring the greenhouse gas footprint of a beverage group’s carbon neutral beer is just part of the contribution to a sustainable future by Net Balance Management Group. Founding director, Terence Jeyaretnam, says the business opportunity came from recognising humanity could not continue to run down natural and social capital in the pursuit of financial and manufactured capital growth. Established in 2006 and with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and London, Net Balance is now one of Australia’s largest providers of sustainability advice, assurance and research. The 35 staff - including scientists, engineers, lawyers, economists and accountants - offer clients independent assurance of sustainability reports, expertise in sustainability strategy, climate change, greenhouse solutions and assessments, environmental auditing and social impact assessments. Net Balance also walks the talk through its in-house environmental and social programs, which include offsetting its greenhouse emissions.

“Our Foundation provides sustainability advisory services to SMEs, not-for-profit organisations and industry associations on a cost-recovery basis,” — Terence Jeyaretnam, Director.

Established 12 years ago, Shining Knight Cleaning is a commercial cleaning company that assists in cutting client absenteeism rates. Determined to deliver a service beyond client expectations, the company undertook a three month sick-day study involving a regime of daily work station sterilisation and strict cleaning procedures in kitchens and bathrooms. They found their clients recorded between 30 and 70 per cent falls in absenteeism compared with the previous two years.

Since then, Shining Knight has grown from two to 133 employees, and one of its proudest achievements was winning its first government contract in 2004, repeating it in 2006 and seeing it extended to five years in 2008. Another was winning a national contract with Virgin Active Health Clubs when Shining Knight was only Victorian-based. An environmentally-friendly machine that uses recycled water in cleaning hard surfaces is one of the company’s other competitive advantages.

“It doesn’t cost more to be environmentally-friendly,” — Kim Calcatjicos, Company Director.

Six Degrees Executive is a specialist recruitment company focused on sales, marketing, supply chain and engineering professionals for the consumer durables, financial services, media, sport and entertainment industries. Director Nick Hindhaugh says the business has won multiple industry awards every year since its inception in 2004, particularly in executive recruitment. With 24 full-time equivalent staff Six Degrees successfully competed with multi-national recruitment firms 10 times its size by excelling in service, quality results and sticking to its four employment disciplines. They have won preferred supplier status with blue-chips such as Nestle, Kraft, NAB and Westfield. It was this focus and commitment to excellence that allowed Six Degrees to keep all their staff when thousands of jobs were lost in the industry during the global financial crisis.

“A key to our success is our people – we have one of the lowest staff turnovers in the recruitment industry at less than 10 per cent,” — Nick Hindhaugh, Director.

Traffic management technology developed by Akcelik & Associates Pty Ltd, is being used by transport professionals in 94 countries. Under the SIDRA SOLUTIONS brand, the world leader in the field of traffic management technology has created powerful traffic engineering software. These tools - SIDRA INTERSECTION and SIDRA TRIP – help achieve better solutions to challenges in the areas of road traffic operations, traffic engineering, management and control. Road users around the world have directly benefited from the practical application of two products SIDRA INTERSECTION and SIDRA TRIP. These have delivered an important innovation – the ability to take complex real-life problems and use mathematical modelling and a software interface to effectively analyse and evaluate engineering problems. Akceilik & Associates also supports the industry with a schedule of training workshops held across various countries to help educate professionals to solve traffic problems more effectively.

“We hope the end result of our work is a better, more sustainable environment which is such a critical issue facing our world today,” — Dr Rahmi Akcelik, Director.

Where better to develop and manufacture a wok that does not require water to cool it down than a city with water restrictions and lots of Asian restaurants? That’s what Clayton-based Commercial Food Machinery (CFM), a leading supplier of commercial catering equipment to the Victorian hospitality industry, has done. The business, started in 1994 by directors Peter Giannuzzi and Ruben Diaz, offers a one-stop-shop at its showroom and warehouse of cooking equipment and ovens, new and reconditioned refrigeration, counter products and crockery. CFM also offers a repair service, kitchen design and ventilation consultancy. Its custom manufacturing department has led the development of an air-cooled, waterless wok – which does not require water to cool down the wok table without compromising the cooking function – and a char grill to meet specific needs of a national chicken franchise.

“We send out weekly emails and mail outs, and visit and support our customers by shopping at their places of business,” — Ruben Diaz, Director.

There’s no stopping Catherine Barolo when it comes to designing maternity wear. In 2004 Catherine designed what she describes as the world’s first T-shirt maternity bra which made nearly a million dollars in sales in its first year. That innovation, which is a non-wired, softly-padded bra with a low-cut front and back, was the beginning of Catherine’s business, Didge Designs. She says her T-shirt bra provides pregnant and nursing mothers with confidence, comfort and cleavage with the functions of a maternity bra. In 2009, Catherine moved on to maternity sleepwear, designing a cotton nursing top with an upper front that can be lifted for discrete feeding. She also designed maternity lounge pants in stretch cotton. Early in 2010 Catherine opened her first boutique in Oakleigh East and the sales boost has inspired this passionate designer to plan more boutiques, and not just in Australia.

“It’s about time pregnant women have the same choices they did before and after pregnancy and that is what Didge Designs delivers,” — Catherine Barolo, CEO.

Mitcham-based IHS Global Alliance was established in 2003 to breathe some spark into the designs and manufacture of equipment for the hospitality industry. With existing designs outdated and in some cases lacklustre, the company set about producing quality Australian-made buffet tables and other products for event management, conferences and banquets, live cooking and in-room dining. IHS now serves 200 cities in 50 countries, with recent projects including the Armani Hotel in Dubai, Trump Chicago, Grand Hyatt Macau as well as Melbourne’s new Convention Centre and Crown Metropol. IHS met food and beverage industry demand for a revitalised buffet system by creating a light-weight and sturdy scissor-folding leg design with removable tops to aid their transport. Patent protection for its designs and products has been challenging and time-consuming for the business, requiring a large investment and careful consideration when applying for patents in different geographies.

“Key lessons that have been learnt include resisting the temptation to expand too quickly and to develop and keep reserves for when the worldwide financial situation is not at its peak,” — Nick Polidoros, Managing Director.

Assisting customers control costs and increase efficiency is the driver of Utilibill’s billing solution for telecommunications resellers. By replacing the need for up to 15 different platforms or systems in existing telco businesses, the Utilibill solution gives resellers access to a toolcase similar to tier one telcos at a fraction of the cost. The system’s simplification of business support systems (BSS) and operational support systems (OSS), has helped the company win contracts with satellite provider Indigo Telecom and the non-listed, publicly-owned Southern Telco. Servicing Australia, New Zealand and the UK, the Melbourne business is currently extending its marketing to electricity retailers following its implementation of interactive technology allowing it to configure and maintain smartmeters for electricity management and support time-of-day metering in the home and industry. With such technology, Utilibill says it won’t be long before customers can buy electricity and telecommunications from one provider.

“We are rising to the challenge of delivering complex billing systems that promote automation and self-service,” — Igor Green, Co-Owner.

Essendon-based Advance Tutoring School, a business owned and operated by registered teachers since 2007, sponsors children whose families cannot afford home tutoring. A.T.S.’s charter is to provide improved access to quality and affordable educational services, in line with the Victorian curriculum, through tuition both in the home and in small groups at the A.T.S. centre. A.T.S Co-Director Catherine Howe-Nitz, who is also head of mathematics at a large public school in Melbourne, says the business is contracted to provide educational support to Indigenous Australians through home tutoring, to children of Carers Link families as well as children at Ronald McDonald House. In addition, A.T.S. also offers tuition at its centre to groups of children who cannot afford home tutoring and is hoping to participate in the Wannik Education Strategy to respond to the disparity in educational outcomes between Koorie and non-Koorie students.

“A.T.S. believes that the only way out of generational poverty is education,” — Lan Leanne Phan, Co-Director.

South Melbourne-based CC Media is a digital publishing pioneer that was created in 2006 when CEO Robert Wong saw an opening for an online catalogue business. He believed it could not only reduce the massive amount of paper used in the approximately 8 billion print catalogues delivered in Australia each year – requiring an estimated 8640 swimming pools of water to produce - but also offer a strong return on investment for marketers. CC Media provides cost effective tools for retailers to engage their customers like never before. It combines its Catalogue Central, Australia’s first catalogue website, with the targeted reach of its new retail advertising network, iNC. This offers a guaranteed performance based model where clients only pay when their online catalogue is read. Partnered with more than 4000 sites, including household names like ninemsm and Yahoo!7, it allows consumers to browse retail content five times faster than traditional search and seek methods.

“As an online catalogue business we are seen by Australians as an environmentally friendly alternative to print catalogue,” — Robert Wong, CEO.

Commercial Food Machinery’s relationships with the Asian restaurants it supplies catering equipment to sparked its investigation into a waterless wok. Determined to find a solution to cut water usage, Director Ruben Diaz asked CFM’s custom equipment engineers to test scenarios using natural air induction to produce a much cooler environment for the chef without compromising the heat of the burner. Ruben says the wok’s value to his business is being able to offer clients a product that will not only save money on their water bills but will also help the environment. On top of their design work, CFM has its own in-house recycling system for palettes, cardboard and paper and takes action to reduce rubbish, power consumption and the use of paper in communication. It also participates in the Victorian School Canteen Association’s promotion of healthy food options for schools.

“If we can help to reduce water consumption in restaurants, we could be helping protect one of Australia’s essential resources,” — Ruben Diaz, Director.

In 2001 the Saurin Group took over a Gippsland factory closed for seven years, founding Longwarry Food Park. In 2005 they decided to open their own recommissioned, energy-efficient, computer-controlled milk processing plant which has created local jobs in regional Victoria and exports 90 per cent of its production to 20 countries. The Park, located in one of Australia’s leading milk producing regions, makes full cream milk powder, fat filled and instant milk powders and is expanding into long-life packaged milk. Continuous plant upgrades have achieved a 36 per cent reduction in greenhouse emission and attracted national awards for sustainability, environment and energy management. Longwarry Food Park has reduced its water usage by 32 per cent and increased plant capacity from 2.3 to 4 tonnes an hour using in-house technology. Turnover has risen to $47 million and the amount of milk processed is up from 38 to 120 million litres in five years.

“Our water consumption per litre of milk processed has reduced from 1.27 litres to 0.82 litres against an industry average of 1.57.” — Rakesh Aggarwal, Managing Director.

Melbourne Medical Deputising Service provides after hours medical care for patients of 650 general practice clinics in Melbourne and Geelong. Josie Adams, Executive Director of the business founded more than 30 years ago, developed a corporate citizenship program based on MMDS’s philosophy that community service alliances result in personal and business benefits for all concerned. MMDS is well known among health professionals for the time it gives, knowledge and data it shares for analysis and the technological solutions it funds with a range of organisations. One example is its collaboration with the Epidemiology Unit of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, providing data for mapping the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 Influenza. Josie says MMDS’s corporate citizenship program in turn increases the business’s knowledge of the needs and trends in primary medical care.

“MMDS has a wealth of knowledge and experience and regularly invests pro-bono time and effort to assist improved service delivery and research projects,” — Josie Adams, Executive Director.

Fiona Gathercole and Jenny Menz launched the Wall Sticker Company in 2006 as they were preparing nurseries for their babies and were surprised by the lack of original decorations available. The women began to create personalised canvasses for children, selling them through children’s stores but when demand rose for the hand-painted works they bought a vinyl cutter to increase production of their personalised canvasses, went online and introduced wall stickers. The stickers are removable and landlord-friendly, and the business releases a new design every month as a strategy to keep its profile buoyant, as well as partnering with designers and artists on signature ranges. The Wall Sticker Company has now automated 80 per cent of production, minimising its use of carbon-generating materials in its packaging while taking orders online continuing their search for a recyclable vinyl.

“We need to be sustainable and not damage the earth for our children so we are committed to making a carbon-neutral product,” — Jenny Menz, Co-Director.