Companies vie for clean sweep

By Shaun Inguanzo
A DANDENONG company that sterilises quarantine items was one of three businesses to become the latest nominees for the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce’s Premier Regional Business Awards.
Joining Steritech this week at the Dandenong Club in Heatherton Road were wax product company Jax Wax and Indian clothing store Roshan’s Fashions.
The nominations were announced at an awards breakfast on Wednesday with guest speaker Keith Hillier, a Melbourne racing identity and radio presenter.
Steritech’s work sterilising quarantine items landed it 15 minutes of fame on the television show Border Control.
CEO George West told chamber members that beyond quarantine work the company also sterilised industrial beehives to eliminate parasites and diseases deadly to bees.
But behind the scenes the business is equally successful with a high retention rate of employees.
Mr West said out of the 55 employees more than 50 per cent had been with Steritech for more than 10 years.
Steritech was nominated for the categories of Environment, Export, Service Excellence, Innovation, Employment.
Roshan’s Fashions owner Shahid Syed told the crowd how he went from architecture in India to retail in Australia after moving here in the late 1980s.
Mr Syed opened a Dandenong store of the already-established chain of Roshan’s Fashions in 1994.
But the challenge, he said, was finding a location.
Mr Syed opened the store in Foster Street after noticing a number of Indian cultural shops nearby including a Punjab sweet store.
The shop boasts Ghagra cholis, Shararas, Shalwaar kamiz, Churidaar suits and bridal wear.
The business was nominated in the categories of Retail, Service Excellence, and Small Business.
Officer-based Jax Wax recently moved to the country town after establishing its business and reputation in Dandenong.
Owners Tina and Geoff Copland started the business in 2000 after years of experience in wax industries locally and overseas.
Their wax products cover a variety of interests including seals, prototype modelling wax, surfboard wax and depilatory wax for the beauty industry.
Ms Copland told the audience that the company often bought materials from China, value-added them, then sold the final product back to China and other strong Asian and Middle Eastern markets.
She said there was a strong demand in those markets for a quality Western culture product as opposed to domestically produced items.
The event was one of a series of breakfasts at which companies are nominated.
The winner will be announced in March.