“When you have surgery at Darwin Day Surgery, the nurse to patient ratio is 1-to-1 not 1-to-10, as with most other facilities.” – Joanne Kovac, Director.

A lack of nurses and theatre time at Darwin Private Hospital prompted registered nurses Joanne Kovac and Maureen Schaffer to form a partnership with resident plastic surgeon, Ravi Mahajani, and open Darwin Day Surgery in Fannie Bay in 2007. The surgery carries out procedures under local and intravenous sedation, specialising in the removal of lesions, such as skin cancers, and providing the full gamut of minor plastic and hand procedures. Joanne admits it was daunting self-funding such a complex, compliance-heavy business, and neither she nor Maureen drew wages in the first few months. However, as the surgery established contracts with all private health funds and government service providers, its services grew rapidly to more than 500 procedures a year. This has helped reduce waiting lists for elective surgery in the Northern Territory. The business is now opening a new facility with two theatres, expanding operating hours and the variety of procedures it performs.

“We use the outdoors to show people how to use any given area to train – they don’t have to add the expense of joining a gym.” – Hollie Goodall, Director.

Former athlete and soldier Hollie Goodall is passionate about getting Territorians outdoors and into shape. Her training business, HGFitness, uses Darwin’s open spaces as a gym to run mobile boot camps, triathlon coaching, body sculpting, boxing classes and no-sweat lunch sessions for workers. Since launching in 2004, HGFitness has also shaped the well-being of the wider community, working with the NT government to teach children to swim and the Australian Sports Commission to run after-school activities. Local councils have included Hollie’s yoga and pilates classes in community health programs for disadvantaged residents and new mums. Keen to see the local fitness industry grow, the business offers Certificates III and IV in Personal Training and gives students plenty of work experience with HGFitness clients, who are not charged. Turn-over grew 50 per cent last financial year and the business is poised to open the Territory’s first fitness retreat 50km from Kakadu.

“We really care about our customers and strive to give the best service we can every time.” – Magdalene Hnaris, Owner.

A delivery mix-up that saw bicycle store Spokes NT open in 2007 with just four bikes on display proved no more than a hiccup for the family-owned business. The Palmerston shop has gone on to stock a wide range of BMX, road, triathlon, cruiser, mountain, hybrid and electric bikes and operates its own service centre. Owners Magdalene Hnaris and Paul Bennett had no experience in the cycling industry before opening Spokes NT but they are now avid riders and enthusiasts about converting others to pedal power. The business sponsors a local BMX club, hosts weekly social rides and partners with community groups to run BMX and scooter events for local youth, where experienced riders mentor beginners. Magdalene says sharing news on Facebook has proven the most effective way to attract its core youth market and Spokes NT also uses SMS to contact customers when repairs are ready, improving workflow and reducing staff time on phones.

“We’re the only residential builder in Darwin using on-site technology, which provides a series of quality assurance checklists and prompts, from the point of deposit through to construction.” – Justin Gill, Owner.

Justin and Karinda Gill established Abode New Homes in 2007 having previously owned a building company and a project home franchise. Feeling limited by a franchise but realising the benefits of systemised processes, the Gills started their own business to create environmentally sustainable project homes, suited to the Top End’s climate. Abode New Homes offers 26 designs, adaptable to client needs, plus house and land packages, finance and management of construction, from soil testing through to colour consultation. The Palmerston company capitalised on a growth opportunity last year when the Territory Government ran ballots for house and land packages under $420,000 in the suburb of Bellamack. Abode designed a range to meet the criteria and was chosen as the builder for the majority of packages. The Home First range has continued as a growth niche for the business, which built 53 homes last financial year, doubling its first year constructions.

“Our objective is that the pub will be one of the highlights – if not the highlight – of every customer’s travels.” – Lindsay Carmichael, Owner.

The Daly Waters Historic Pub, one of the most remote and iconic hotels in Australia, has had 20 owners in 80 years of operation. But it’s the current owners, publican Lindsay Carmichael and his family, who have transformed it most, in their 12 years at the helm, from a brief stop-over to a memorable destination. The pub offers a comfortable outback experience, with motel and budget pub rooms, backpacker lodgings, a caravan park, deluxe cabins and nightly entertainment. Meals show off premium local ingredients such as wild-caught barramundi. A business that previously relied on tourists stumbling upon it, the pub drove 20 per cent revenue growth last financial year by piggybacking on regional and national tourism campaigns. It’s now targeting more international tourists with its online booking engine and affiliations with free sales web sites. Daly Waters is showcased on Datatrax Touchscreens in 230 visitor centres around Australia.

“The confidence gained from a superior product and a professional team allows our staff to have a friendly and helpful attitude.” – Jason Newman, Owner.

The flagship of the Newman family’s Eldorado Motels Australia chain, Eldorado Motor Inn in Tennant Creek, has carved a reputation as a comfortable and affordable base for outback visitors to the Barkly Region. The family bought the 76-unit motel four years ago and spent the past two focussing on quality improvements and building new business opportunities. It secured a large contract with a civil engineering firm for employee accommodation and ramped up online marketing to domestic and international self-drive tourists and younger travellers. Attention to detail has helped lift the motel’s rating from 3 to 3.5 stars, and it’s now operating at nearly 70 per cent annual occupancy, up from 36 per cent three years ago. According to owner Jason Newman, documented processes, training and development in all areas of the business and employee input on decisions helped instil pride in the hotel’s young team and overcome recruitment and retention challenges.

“Saffrron has become a destination for eco-travellers and foodies alike and a talking point in the hospitality industry.” – Selvam Kandasamy, Owner and Chef.

Diners at Saffrron Restaurant in the Darwin suburb of Parap are often bemused to sit down to an elegant table setting and find biodegradable plates. It’s just one of the surprises served by Chef Selvam Kandasamy in his sustainably-certified eco-restaurant. Opened in 2008, Saffrron specialises in flavoursome, healthy Indian-inspired dishes, created from fresh, local ingredients and brought to the table with as small an environmental footprint as possible. Selvam scrutinises every aspect of the restaurant to ensure minimal environmental impact - printing menus with soy ink, serving carbon-neutral beer and choosing disposable tableware that saves on electricity and water use. Saffron was the first restaurant in Australia to be Climate Action certified, but places equal importance on people, using its popularity to raise awareness about racial tolerance. The business has grown from four to 15 employees and sustained a healthy profit since opening, with revenue growth of more than 20 per cent a year.

“The company's success has been driven by a simple love and passion for the outback.” – Don Wait, Managing Director.

Don Wait started Wayoutback Desert Safaris in 1999 to get visitors “off the beaten track” and out of their comfort zones to appreciate the beauty of the Red Centre. Based in Alice Springs, the business offers nine 4WD bush tours as well as customised private charters which can range from one to 18-day expeditions. Locations include Uluru, the West MacDonnell Ranges and Kata-Tjuta. About 5,000 domestic and international visitors a year experience bush tucker, campfire cooking, sleeping outdoors, ancient geology and authentic indigenous culture. Wayoutback visits a number of Aboriginal communities and gained permission from owners of two remote cattle stations to set up eco-friendly camp sites. They enjoy access to 120km of dirt track between the two properties so visitors avoid the highway and other tourists. As the first Advanced Eco-Tourism Accredited business in Central Australia, Wayoutback runs specialty tours for bird-watchers and photographers and recently expanded into luxury hotel safaris.

“We continue to be progressive in our thought leadership for our customers.” – Chris Coleman, Director.

Area9 IT Solutions delivers tailored services, solutions and support to ensure customers are getting the best possible value from their information technology (IT) environments. The company started in 2007 as the result of a management buyout of a Northern Territory technology company that was shutting its doors and leaving town. Managers David Metcalfe, Chris Coleman, Mary McAlpine and Johnny Politis wanted to stay, so they bought the Winnellie business, made offers to existing staff and convinced sufficient customers to give them a go. Area9 provides clients with IT services such as infrastructure design, procurement, implementation, management and problem solving. Revenue has increased five-fold since 2008 and staff numbers have shot from 13 to 46. Growth has been partly driven by the business tapping into cloud computing and the appointment of an additional new director, Simon Watt. Clients can rely on Area9’s high-performance data centre on a pay-as-you go basis.

“Our staff are passionate about the Katherine region and want to go the extra mile in all facets of customer service.” – Joanna Pace, Manager.

When the Pace and Forster families Pace took over Knotts Crossing Resort in Katherine in 2009, they immediately saw opportunities to build revenue by boosting wet season occupancy rates between November and April, selling more tours and updating the resort’s web site. The 3.5-star resort offers motel, caravan and camping accommodation as a base for tourists to explore the region’s rich environment and experience indigenous culture. By creating competitive accommodation and meal packages for contractors, the business has landed new commercial clients, lifting wet season occupancy from 44 to 66 per cent. Managers Joanna Pace and Bronwyn Forster and their team produced a new web site to make bookings easier and increased the resort’s online presence via travel sites and Facebook. They coached staff to be more pro-active in promoting tours, which increased commissioned ticket sales by 74 per cent last financial year. Overall, resort revenue has grown 20 per cent since 2009.

“The end result of our workflow management system is that clients receive the home of their choice, built to their satisfaction, for the agreed price and importantly, on time.” - Justin Gill, Owner.

Building a new home is a huge task. Coordinating hundreds of tradesmen and thousands of dollars worth of materials can't be achieved without clear and accountable processes, policies and procedures in place. It is for this reason Abode New Homes employs an integrated workflow and construction management software system designed to manage the complete construction timeline. It starts when the client makes a deposit and continues through pre-construction and construction to the end of a six month maintenance period. Established by Justin and Karinda Gill in 2007, Adobe New Homes is the only Palmerston builder to use the innovative "on-site" technology that also allows the business to adhere to strict construction timeframes, forecast delays, keep track of employees' responsibilities and record all facets of the build process. Abode New Homes built 53 homes last year, all within the agreed time frame, and has introduced a guarantee to complete projects by the contract date.

“Our senior engineers meet weekly to talk innovation - to discuss new technologies, better ways to do things, and to find solutions to problems they've found.” – Chris Coleman, Director.

Area9 IT Solutions tests all new technologies for customers on its own business first. A provider of tailored information technology services and solutions, the Winnellie business was an early adopter of technologies such as virtualisation, next-generation firewalls and de-duplicated backups. Director and Co-founder Chris Coleman says new products, such as virtual desktop software, are implemented within Area9 before being sold to customers to assess the benefits, train staff and determine how one product might relate with another. This test environment allows Area9 to create cost-effective, highly functional and scalable IT solutions. Clients can operate on Area9’s highly virtualised infrastructure and access high-performance technologies and functionality that they could not otherwise afford. In return, because Area9 hosts the infrastructure, it can constantly evaluate and identify opportunities for new technologies. This cycle of innovation, combined with a managed services offering, has helped Area9 develop capabilities unique in the Territory and driven five-fold growth since 2008.

“Darwin Day Surgery is able to provide a cheaper and timely alternative to hospitalisation, and is a model for the future pathway of health care in the Northern Territory.” – Joanne Kovac, Director.

Medical staff shortages, limited operating hours and long waiting lists at local hospitals continue to drive innovation at Darwin Day Surgery. Owned and operated by two registered nurses, with a surgeon as business partner, the surgery opened in 2007 as an alternative to Darwin’s two main hospitals for procedures such as minor plastic and hand surgery and skin cancer removal. Clients book their surgeries on a day convenient to them and are operated on, recovered and discharged within two hours of arrival. Darwin Day Surgery is now building a new, two-theatre facility in Palmerston to broaden non-elective services and further reduce waiting lists. To fund the new venture, the business negotiated with a developer to build and sell them the facility as part of a new healthcare precinct. In return, Darwin Day Surgery introduced the developer to allied health professionals to take tenancy of remaining space, introducing more medical services to the growing region.

“Our biodegradable tableware raises a few eyebrows. It not only minimises pollution, but also saves water and electricity use in the restaurant.”– Selvan Kandasamy.

In many ways Chef Selvam Kandasamy has gone back to the basics he was raised with to bring innovation to the dining experience at Parap’s Saffrron Restaurant. Growing up on a buffalo and rice farm in Tamil Nadu, India, Selvam was taught by his grandmother to cook with maximum flavour and minimal waste, using the freshest of ingredients. He and his five staff draw on those fundamentals to role model how a restaurant can be both environmentally sustainable and highly successful. Saffrron’s eco-dining experience, combined with its flavoursome food, has delivered 20 per cent revenue growth over the past two years, well above the industry average. Saffrron sources seasonal, local ingredients – from ginger to wild-caught barramundi – to reduce emissions and understand the food’s origins. The entire restaurant’s lighting and appliances are energy efficient, and the plates, made from bamboo and sugarcane, are 100 per cent bio-degradable and disposable, reducing water and energy use further.

“We believe small changes can make a larger impact on society.” – Justin Gill, Owner.

The desire to create affordable, environmentally sustainable homes was one of the reasons Justin and Karinda Gill gave up a project home franchise and started building their own in 2007. The couple wanted to see more homes designed around the Top End’s climate and lifestyle and run on solar energy. Abode’s Going Green initiatives include solar panels and solar hot water systems on its 26 project designs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ongoing household costs for customers. Justin describes the panels as “your own mini power station” and claims the solar hot water systems reduce greenhouse gas emissions for water heating by up 70 per cent. With ABS data revealing Abode New Homes built more than 10 per cent of new homes in the Darwin and Palmerston region in 2009, Justin and Karinda believe their business is having a meaningful impact on not just the local landscape but also the planet.

“From the outset, Area9 made it a clear goal to give back to the community where it could, and therefore play a small part in continuing the growth of the Northern Territory.” – Chris Coleman, Director.

When David Metcalfe, Chris Coleman, Mary McAlpine and Johnny Politis saw the technology company they worked for was shutting down, they decided to set up their own IT business in Winnellie. Established in 2007, Area9 provides IT services such as infrastructure design, procurement, implementation, management and problem solving. The business participates in work experience programs with more than 10 local schools. Each year Area9 take on approximately 12 students for one week at a time. Students accompany engineers to sites and are given the opportunity to handle equipment and assist engineers under supervision and observe how business technologies function in the workplace. Area9 contributes a portion of its annual profit to each of its charity customers, in addition to donating IT equipment and IT infrastructure management services to these clients. The business also sponsors the local Waratahs Football Club, supporting the club with funding that is used in part to recruit Territorians from remote communities.

“We’ve seen economic benefits and taken a lot of pride in reducing our water consumption from the mains system over the last two years” – Lindsay Carmichael, Owner and Manager

Daly Waters Historic Pub’s isolation – nearly 300 kilometres from Katherine – has inspired it to minimise waste and reduce reliance on transported goods to cut its operating costs. Run by the Carmichael family since 1999, the business includes an 80-year-old pub, a caravan park and motel, pub and backpacker accommodation. Owner Lindsay Carmichael says the business takes pride in protecting the local bush ecology and ensures staff are involved in and educated on all eco-friendly programs. An aqua-treat septic system has been installed for grey water, while rain water is collected on buildings and mixed with the grey water for irrigation of camping and caravan sites. Plastic bags have been replaced by re-usable and paper ones, energy-efficient lighting is used throughout, and overhead fans, instead of air-conditioning, cool the pub. Employees maintain an organic vegetable garden to help stock the kitchen, reducing costs and ensuring meals continue to impress guests with their flavour and freshness.

“It’s very satisfying and encouraging to know the business has improved while having a positive influence on the region's economy, service provision and residents.” – Jason Newman, Owner.

The family-operated Eldorado Motor Inn invests in youth training and upskilling in the remote Tennant Creek region to ensure sustainable recruitment for its business, but also to create a motivated and healthy community. With average occupancy rates growing from 36 to 70 per cent in three years in their 76-unit motel, owner Jason Newman and his family have ramped up recruitment and training of apprentices through partnerships with regional training organisations and Rotary International. Eldorado invests in community programs - it’s the sole financial supporter of a horsemanship program for indigenous students, created in conjunction with the remote Elliott Community School to encourage more students to attend and stay in education. The business also supports the Northern Territory’s Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program with accommodation and training venues for program employees, and encourages the motel’s resident contractors to get involved in community programs to integrate and build relationships.

“For us, sustainability is about our responsibility to people and planet – but we've found sustainability also makes good business sense.” – Selvam Kandasamy, Owner-Chef.

From soy ink on menus to locally-sourced curry leaves and the promotion of racial tolerance, social responsibility has been central to the running of Darwin’s Saffrron Restaurant since it opened in 2008. Owner-Chef Selvam Kandasamy and his team offer a unique eco-dining experience that creates and serves fresh, healthy and “mouth-watering” Indian food with minimal environmental impact and maximum support for local producers and the community. The restaurant was the first in Australia to earn Climate Action certification with initiatives such as bio-degradable plates, discounts for BYO take-away containers and green bags, and the recycling of fryer fuel for bio-diesel. Saffrron shares its knowledge through sustainability workshops and is a ready supporter of programs that promote multiculturalism, including Vindaloo Against Violence and Harmony Week. Selvam says the restaurant’s social responsibility has become a promotional tool but has also helped reduce operating costs, with an estimated 20 per cent saved on power alone each year.