6 winners plus TedX speaker celebrate the Inaugural Irish Australian Business Awards

Sydney: Last Friday, 21 November 2015, saw The Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce (IACC), Australia's peak Irish Australian business association, host its inaugural National Business Awards in the beautiful surrounds of Parliament House, Sydney. Master of Ceremonies, Lochie Daddo, courtesy of Inspire Speakers, welcomed a packed house of over 200 Irish Australian business leaders who celebrated the six inaugural award winners in style.
 
The evening's proceedings included a special guest keynote from TedX speaker, Dr Caroline Casey, who almost brought the room to tears with her inspirational story about the barriers in life and how she has not let her disability hold her back in her career. Support from The Irish Government's Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Bank of Melbourne, and IDA Ireland made the night a sell-out success culminating with entertainment from "The Gathering", helping guests dance the night away.
 
The big winners on the night were the Traditional Chip Shop, who not only won the best Startup category but also the People's Choice category, winning the Higgins Award. The inaugural award is named in honour of the IACC's founding President, Gerry Higgins, with the winner found by public vote conducted through the irishchamber.com.au website.
 
Will Dolan, Owner, The Traditional Chip Shop, said, "I would firstly like to thank the IACC for putting on the awards program to recognise Irish owned business in Australia. The awards ceremony was fantastic and to be part of this and to win awards in the Startup category and the Higgins people's choice award, in the company's first year, is beyond our expectations. We are very humbled to be involved and as a new business, we look forward to growing and continuing being involved with the IACC. 
 
The winning finalists in the five-judged categories and one public vote category included The Traditional Chip Shop, Global Rail Australia, Nuix, Lorraine Murphy from the Remarkables Group and ACS Consolidated Group - full details on each winning person/group listed below.
 
Winner of the Young Professional category, Lorraine Murphy said "I'm thrilled to have been chosen as the winner for the Young Professional Award!  I know how tough the competition was and it's extra special to have that recognition from the Irish business community in Sydney."
 

 
With Chamber members active locally, nationally and internationally, the awards program was another positive step for the chamber said, Barry Corr, CEO, IACC, "We wanted to create something that our community could be proud of and which helped share the fantastic stories of achievement and success that can be an inspiration to Irish Australian businesses and beyond.
 
"While we were announcing the winners in Sydney, our VP was in Dublin representing us at the Global Irish Economic Forum and thanks to the power of social media, he was able to convey the news in real time during a break in proceedings to many interested parties. We are grateful to the Irish Government, Bank of Melbourne and IDA Ireland for their sponsorship support and to our panel of judges for ensuring the robustness and integrity of the awards program."