By CASEY NEILL
THE 25th Premier Regional Business Awards Gala dinner was “a very special end to a very special idea that started in 1990 in a boardroom in Dandenong”.
Awards chairman Jamie Sturgess is also Macpherson Kelley’s Victorian managing principal, Committee for Dandenong board member and a Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce life member.
As a young lawyer he was invited into a boardroom meeting with Central Dandenong Rotary Club members John Woods from The Journal, Stephen Giles from M+K, John Marsh from Destination Travel, Hans Rubens from Successories and Ian McDonald from the City of Dandenong.
“What I was doing there, or what my role was, was a complete mystery to me,” he said.
“That was back in 1990 when I was a young man in my mid to late 20s and I certainly came away from the meeting incredibly impressed with the ideas, the vision and the concepts that had been discussed.
“I had no idea as I left that meeting that I would be given the pleasure of being integrally involved with the Premier Regional Business Awards on an intimate basis for most of the next 25 years.”
Australia was going through the “recession it had to have” and the Dandenong community leaders decided to do something about the national climate at a grass roots level.
“The vision was to have an awards program that highlighted the best businesses in the region, create positive stories through newspaper articles and to celebrate – on an annual basis – with a gala dinner that brought all of the nominees together to revel in the achievements of the year,” Mr Sturgess said.
He said that more than 6000 people had been involved in the awards over the years.
“It is about sharing the success of the businesses that have achieved so much and inspiring others to strive for the same success and reflect on their own businesses and the success of others to create success for themselves,” he said.
