By Casey Neill
Basketball and financial planning don’t generally go hand in hand.
But they came together at the Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce Business Awards breakfast at Punthill Apartment Hotel Dandenong on Friday 23 March.
Dandenong Basketball Association and Financial Foundations Australia were the first nominees for this year’s awards.
Chamber president Paul Broom encouraged everyone in the room to think about customers and suppliers who deserved to be in the running.
“Let’s keep it vibrant,” he said.
“Let’s get those nominations coming in.”
Dandenong Basketball Association CEO Graeme Allan said it had grown from six courts in 1990 to 15 today.
“We still turn away 54 teams every season,” he said.
“Five hundred people can’t play because we haven’t got a big enough facility, but we’re streets ahead of everybody else with our facility.
Mr Allan said 15,000 people a week walked through the doors at Dandenong Stadium.
“That’s more than all the other sports in Dandenong combined,” he said.
“For us it’s more than just basketball.”
The association hosts a competition for intellectually disabled players each Wednesday and was instrumental in forming the Black Rhinos basketball team for African youths with serious criminal issues.
“Rather than turn them away, we actually brought them into our stadium,” he said.
They played in a grand final one year after starting.
“In the 12 months since the Black Rhinos have been part of the Dandenong Basketball Association, not one of those guys have reoffended,” Mr Allan said.
“Statistics of African crime in Greater Dandenong have dropped 40 per cent.
The women’s side Peregrine Falcons joined the family on Tuesday 20 March.
Mr Allan said the association’s Australia Day tournament brought $4.1 million in economic benefit to Greater Dandenong in three days.
Financial Foundations Australia CEO Ty Cockle said his father started an accounting practice and saw a need for his clients to have quality financial planning advice.
He started the Dandenong company in 1983 and it’s now one of the largest boutique financial planning practices in Australia.
Mr Cockle said it had 1300 active clients, up from 900 five years ago, and put that down to investments in technology.
He said minimum standards for financial advisors introduced in recent years could help the business to grow further, as people without the required qualifications leave the field.
Personally, he completed a teaching degree but realised he didn’t have the passion for the classroom.
He returned to study and hasn’t looked back.
This year’s Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce Business Awards winners will be announced at an event on Wednesday 21 November.
Visit www.greaterdandenongchamber.com.au to nominate.
