The woman behind a Melbourne cupcake bakery has been named the Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the inaugural Australian Start Up Awards.
Sheryl Thai, whose Cupcake Central is now in its fourth year, took out the honour, while Lorraine Murphy of blogger talent agency The Remarkables Group won the Start Up of the Year award.
The awards program, organised by entrepreneurial education institute the Entourage, has shown that the future of Australian small business is bright – the five winners are aged between 25 and 32.
Jack Delosa of the Entourage said the range of finalists reflected the diversity of thinking in Australian business.
“The calibre of finalists in the first year of the awards is outstanding and goes to show why small and medium businesses are the backbone of Australia,” Delosa said.
Jane Lu’s Show Pony Fashion was named Online Business of the Year, and Priyanka Rao won the Product Business of the Year award for Evolvex, which lets consumers create customised furniture online.
The only man to win an award, Mathew Klintfalt, won Service Business of the Year with Ultraflow Siphonics.