By Casey Neill
An event doesn’t get much bigger than a visit from the Pope.
Keysborough’s No Fuss Event Hire was under the pump to cover Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse with 40 acres of plastic flooring to accommodate the pontiff and his worshippers.
They had four days.
“We ran it like a military team. We finished with 12 hours to spare,” the business’s Tom O’Dowd said.
The one thing that tripped them up?
“It was in July. The only thing we didn’t have was sunscreen,” Mr O’Dowd said.
No Fuss was among three nominees presented at the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce Business Awards breakfast at Greyhounds Entertainment in Springvale on Wednesday 24 August.
Biofuel Innovations and Greencare Developments, both in Dandenong South, were also announced as contenders for the awards, to be presented later this year.
No Fuss owner Geoff Tucker was in catering when he identified opportunities in temporary flooring.
Twenty years on, the business also offers seating and marquee services, employs 36 full-time staff and has a 1000-strong client base that includes Etihad Stadium, the MCG, Country Racing Victoria and the Melbourne Grand Prix.
It will also be involved in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Biofuel Innovations transforms cooking oil from restaurants, takeaway shops and food manufacturers into biodiesel, which can be used in place of petroleum diesel.
Business owners Dale Barnett and Dr Rebecca Yee met while studying chemical engineering at university and started operations in April last year.
“We’ve just finished construction and we’re about midway through commission of our current site,” Mr Barnett said.
“We’re trying to tie down sales contracts with businesses that have expressed an interest in our product earlier on.”
The plant can produce about 30,000 litres of biofuel per month and expansions are planned.
The business has provided practical experience to seven university students and Dr Yee is involved in the CSIRO’s Scientists in Schools program, which aims to inspire primary school children.
Greencare Developments is a 26-year partnership between Bill Daft, Iain Chaney, Andrew Chaney and Graham Smith.
They originally had a licence to manufacture sunscreen and developed the first sprayable sunscreen.
They sold that arm in 2004 and developed Orange Power and other products that were “genuinely natural, not just claiming to be natural”.
Greencare employs 45 people, 20 who’ve stared in the past 18 months and is looking to expand into export.
“Particularly into China, as probably everyone is,” Mr Chaney said.
“It’s a difficult market to get into but we’re hopeful.”
