Ballina businesses shine at awards night

NORCO, a dairy co-op that supports farmers across northern NSW, has won the coveted 2024 Northern Rivers Business of the Year award.

It’s one of nine businesses or organisations operating in the Ballina Shire to receive an accolade at the Northern Rivers 2024 Regional Business Awards night held at the Ballina RSL Club on Saturday.

Norco won two category awards earlier in the night – Excellence in Sustainability and Outstanding Business Leader (21 employees and over) for CEO Michael Hampson. It was selected as the Business of the Year from 23 category winners.

Jane Laverty, Regional Director Northern Rivers, Business NSW said the awards celebrate and showcase the diverse talent within the Northern Rivers business community.

“It was a wonderful night of celebration. You could feel the connection between everyone and the sense of camaraderie amongst a group of truly dedicated regional business leaders,” she said.

“Norco Cooperative was a well-deserving winner of individual categories and recognised as a business that is dedicated to achieving results for their farming partners and has achieved outstanding results for business performance and demonstrating all-round excellence in business.

“It’s been a tough few years for many businesses, so these awards are a wonderful opportunity to shine a spotlight on the ingenuity, strength and resilience of all the finalists who also represented over 30,000 businesses now in the Northern Rivers.”

Other Ballina Shire winners and highly commended recipients

Dinner is Served won for Excellence in Retail & Personal Services, and Claudia Lawrence from the company won Outstanding Business Leader (20 employees or under).

Collins Hume won for Excellence in Business & Professional Services, Paul ‘Bluey’ McDermott from Cherry Sports Group won Outstanding Employee, and Cumulus Visual Effects won an award for Excellence in International Business.

Receiving highly commended awards were: Hartleys Fresh Market for Excellence in Retail and Personal Services; Barefruit Marketing for Excellence in Business and Professional Services and the Employer of Choice (20 employees or under); Cherry Sports Group for Excellence in Innovation; ENV Solutions for Excellence in Sustainability and Excellence in Large Business; and Ballina RSL for Outstanding Visitor Experience.

For the full list of winners, go to businessnsw.com/events/business-awards/northern-rivers.

Winners of state-aligned categories will represent the region at the State Business Awards to be held in Sydney on October 30.

“I am very much looking forward to seeing Team Northern Rivers, our regional winners, represent our broader business community on the state stage,” Mrs Laverty said.