30under30 2016

Customer centric construction — Belfort Homes, founded by Yassir Sheriff, prides themselves on embodying this motto. Having worked in the industry for a number of years, Yassir decided to create his own company when he noticed a lack of credible residential builders in the area.

Christina Chun, 26, didn’t exactly have it easy growing up. Coming from a disadvantaged background with a disability and raised by a single mother who couldn’t speak English. Chun overcame these adversities to pursue her passion for advocating for young people aged 12-25, in Australia facing challenges of obtaining opportunities in the workplace. 1Scope was created and launched within four months. It is a central and virtual hub that connects these students to a plethora of opportunities available to them--employment, scholarships, training programs, and more--in the marketplace and allows them to categorically research and apply for these opportunities in one setting.

Jay Wright’s team knows more about promoting small businesses than many small business owners and they’re ready to pass on their knowledge. Search Insights helps businesses generate more leads and sales through strategic digital marketing. “I entered this space because there was so much noise and gimmick in the market place, and not enough firm strategy available to small to mid-sized businesses looking to scale online,” Jay says.

Emma Blomfield, 30, understood from an early age that she doesn’t like being told what to do. This was evident to her when she first started working as an employee, her entrepreneurial spirit kept shining through, until she decided to take the leap into the business world by starting up two businesses of her own: her online decorating business and The Decorating School. Blomfield has built buzz by taking her decorating skills on the road via hosting workshops in retail stores in rural areas. The regional market is starved of interior design advice, so by physically showing up in a local store has helped her create buzz both online and offline.

If failing out of high school wasn't enough of a wake-up call, looking in the mirror and seeing bleach blonde hair was. Ash Marton turned his life around and created one of Australia’s most innovative real estate companies at the young age of 22. Alongside co-founder Lilly Luculano, Ash created Ash Marton Realty, which now employs around 15 team members.

A realtor’s strongest selling point can often be photos. Steve Ungermann capitalized on this truth when he started his own real estate photography and marketing business at the age of 19. At the time, professional photography was rarely used by agents, Steve says. This meant Steve was able to secure a solid spot in the market from the start.

Holly Kershaw, 29, pursued her dream of “being paid to blow stuff up for a living” and she achieved just that when she got hired as the Education Director for Fizzics Education. Fizzics is a company that delivers engaging science programs to over 250,000 kids a year. Kershaw is passionate about delivering quality science education to kids across Australia and internationally. Recognized for her efforts, in 2016, Holly won the Young Business Executive section of the Western Sydney Awards for Business Excellence.

An entrepreneur in the business of helping fellow entrepreneurs — this is how Adrian Osman describes himself and his “addiction to getting new ideas off the ground.” In the spirit of practicing what he preaches, Adrian says his wealth of entrepreneurial knowledge only came from launching his own startup. He’s experienced highs and lows in all shapes and sizes and is now able to use those experiences to help others.

Logan Merrick and Graham McKorkill are what some may call ‘idea guys.’ Quite simply, they turn creative ideas into apps. Logan describes Buzinga as “an app development and innovation consultancy, helping startups and enterprises commercialize ideas and implement mobile-first strategies.”

Jacqui Pretty, 30, started Grammar Factory in 2013, by chance. At the time she was doing a business-coaching program for another business idea and part of the program involved writing a book. She got up in front of the group of 50 people and pitched them on her editing skills. “That led to my first couple of clients and the rest, as they, is history!” Grammar Factory helps entrepreneurs write awesome books by working with 100+ authors across the fields of business, finance, health, property, personal development and more.

For many years companies have easily been able to find employees online. Only recently, and with the help of Jordan O’Reilly, have people with disabilities been able to hire support workers online just as easily. “Hireup is innovating in the peer-to-peer economy, paying its workers industry-leading wages while saving people with disability thousands of dollars in fees,” Jordan says.

Rechelle Coombes, 29, founded Socielle in 2016 with the intention of creating a central place for retail consumers to purchase socially conscious goods. Socielle sources artisans from around the globe who provide handmade, ethical, ecofriendly, and/or socially responsible items to help the consumer shop consciously.

With the help of Will Strange and Sports Performance Tracking, anyone can feel as if they’re training at the quality of a professional athlete. SPT provides sporting players with wearable cloud based software analytics technology. This enables athletes across the globe to have access to sports science and tracking technology.

Isobel Crumblin, 26, started Fly By Fun in 2008 at the age of 19 with a vision of becoming Australia’s most loved children’s entertainment company. As a company, Fly By Fun is well on their way to fulfilling that vision, with over 8,500 parties and events to date. Crumblin and her team have put smiles on tens of thousands of children’s faces, with over 80 people working out of five capital cities across Australia, Crumblin’s vision of making people happy has come to fruition.

Morgan Koegel, 25, is a self-described ‘employee with entrepreneurial wisdom and flair’. At 20 Koegel became CEO of Engage Education, a not-for-profit that supports Australian students to complete their studies. At 24, she became CEO of One Girl, a not-for-profit that focuses on education in Africa. Koegel’s ambition is driven by a desire to change the world. As a girl born to gay parents in Middle America, she’s been told countless times that she can’t do it. However, the thousands of students she has helped are a testament to just how wrong the cynics can be. She feels as though she has an obligation to raise her voice for those who can’t, and that’s a responsibility she takes very seriously.

With the goal of making online learning globally accessible, Chris Eigeland created GO1 — the “TripAdvisor” for online education. In the early stages of development, Eigeland and his co-founder Andrew Barnes failed to raise their first round of venture capital funding for their original business idea, a CRM solution. When they went back to the drawing board a lightbulb went off. Education — this was the field in which their technology could make a true lasting impact.

Jordan Grives has alleviated companies of the chore many employees can’t stand — answering the phone — and Fonebox’s abilities don't end there. Jordan has created a company that handles all sides of inbound telecommunications, including reporting of inbound numbers. Jordan says he noticed the market was discontent with existing providers. Products being created weren't comprehensive, reporting data was being provided in an ineffective manner and customer service was at an all-time low.

Sebastian Chaoui ensures children’s dreams of becoming an astronaut don't have to go to waste. Cuberider is an interactive space education company for high schoolers. With his co-founder Solange Cunin, Sebastian has created a way for students to code their very own space experiments and have them launch to the international space station.

Imagine a jigsaw puzzle that comes to life when you snap in the last piece — this is what Taj Paberi has created through Fiftysix Creations. Fiftysix Creations provides children, both privileged and underprivileged, with a kit that allows them to build their very own electronic tablet.

High school dropout turned successful businessman — this is just one way to describe Jeremy Hansen and his entrepreneurial success. In 2011, at the age of 16, Jeremy founded GlowBored, a forward thinking public relations firm, which now manages a wide variety of clients across Australia.