by Cam Lucadou-Wells and Marcus Uhe
Two international success stories in the South East have taken out national export awards.
Booming baby-formula business Bubs Australia based in Dandenong South won the top overall prize at the 60th Australian Export Awards on Thursday 24 November.
And Hallam-based Coolon LED Lighting took out the resources and energy category.
In May this year, Bubs Australia famously exported a massive 1.25 million Bubs infant formula tins into the United States in response to a formula supply shortage.
It was the first Australian company of its kind to gain US Food and Drug Administration approval, supplying more than 10,000 retail outlets in the States.
They also gained swift contracts with e-commerce marketplaces like Walmart.com, Amazon.com and Thrive Market.
Bubs Australia supplies the top 2 markets in the world, China and the US, as well as South East Asia and the Middle East.
Chief executive Kristy Carr said its success came from “agility and flexibility of the team to quickly take on new export opportunities”.
“We were able to double our capacity to meet US demand without impacting existing market supply.”
Trade Minister Don Farrell congratulated the business for being “one of Australia’s most successful and in-demand exporters of infant nutrition products”.
Meanwhile, Coolon’s innovative lighting is exported to mines and industrial sites in Chile, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, the US, Canada and the UAE.
Its products are locally manufactured. Through rigorous R&D, it launched new ‘smart lights’ connected to a wireless network across mines and industrial settings.
It is currently working on a new cloud-platform development.
Coolon business development manager Andrew Orkin said it was “nice to be acknowledged” after exporting for many years.
Most mining companies had adopted its technology, he said.
“We’ve had some massive innovation breakthroughs.
“We’ve made our lights smart, they all connect to each other from a wireless network across the site.
“Once the lights connect and form a network we can see where people and assets are. We can run a lot of services that are next generation.”
The firm, which also recently won a City of Casey Business Award for Innovation, celebrated with a large lunch with staff.
“It was a good way to say thanks to all who contributed,” Mr Orkin said.
