SEIPEL GROUP, a relatively small Brisbane company that has made enormous progress in helping to solve a common global medical problem, highlighted the extraordinary drive, innovation and resilience of Brisbane-based business leaders, companies and start-ups as it took out the peak award last night among a list of high achievers.

The fact that the event, which filled Brisbane City Hall, took place at all was a testament to the way Brisbane people and businesses have rallied to persevere through and recover from the 2020 pandemic. 

Seipel Group was awarded the Optus business Platinum Award as one of the many insipirational companies that illustrated the resilience of the Brisbane business environment. Seipel Group is the only Australian company to have cracked the highly-competitive US nutraceutical market after developing the first scientifically proven herbal formula to help improve bladder control.

Acting Mayor Krista Adams, who stood in for Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner who was self-isolating as a result of a recent visit to South Australia, said the Optus Business Platinum Award recognised an overall winner from all categories, and winner Seipel Group also won the Australia Pacific LNG Award for Business Innovation.

“Brisbane businesses have a diverse range of endeavours and Seipel Group is the only Australian company to have cracked the highly-competitive US nutraceutical market after developing the first scientifically proven herbal formula to help improve bladder control,” Cr Adams said.

Following a harrowing year for Brisbane business, stories of adaption and success in the face of adversity were the highlights of the 15^th annual Lord Mayor’s Business Awards. 

Acting Mayor  Adams said among 10 awards, science-based education company, Street Science was awarded the inaugural HSBC Award for Excellence in Business Adaptation.

“Pivot was the buzz word among Brisbane businesses which changed their offerings to survive this pandemic and Street Science have been a stellar example how innovation helped them, not only survive, but thrive,” Cr Adams said. 

“Street Science quickly adapted their business to become the first in Australia to launch a free home-schooling program as well as digital classroom kits and virtual excursions for schools around the world.

“This pivot saw them lead the way in how to educate from home and the company now reaches up to 20,000 people per week across six different countries.”

The Courier-Mail Business Person of the Year Award was awarded to iconic restaurateur Tyron Simon, director of well-known restaurants Agnes, sAme sAme and Honto, and Founder of LONgTIME and Rick Shores.

Cr Adams said the hospitality sector endured some incredibly harsh conditions when doors had to shut and patronage was limited but Mr Simon's perseverance and determination made him a role model for the business community.

“Growing up, Tyron had dreams of playing cricket for Australia, but these were crushed when he injured his knee. With a need to secure employment, Tyron discovered his love for hospitality and from there, one of our most celebrated restaurateurs was born,” she said.

“He has shown adaptation and perseverance through tough times, the courage to take risks and make difficult decisions, and he is proof that you can achieve whatever you set out to do.”

The Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd Award for Young Business Person of the Year was awarded to Ashleigh Morris, founder and CEO of Coreo.

“In just three years Ashleigh has grown Coreo from small beginnings into a globally-recognised and award-winning company that advises industry and government on creating a circular economy,” Cr Adams said.

“As someone who is clearly destined for great success, Ashleigh is globally recognised for her strategic foresight and experience and was recently named as a global Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Influential Leader. 

“A Prime Minister’s Scholar, Ashleigh is an Australian ASEAN Emerging Leader who has been invited to attend the 73rd United National General Assembly in New York. She is also one of only a handful of people worldwide to be recognised as an Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circular Economy Champion," Cr Adams said.

“I want to a thank the winners of the 2020 Lord Mayor’s Business Awards, and all Brisbane businesses for their ongoing contribution to our economy.

“The strength and resilience these businesses have shown throughout the pandemic, gives Brisbane high hopes for the future.”

The winners of the 2020 Lord Mayor’s Business Awards are:

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By Leon Gettler >>

RINGO CHAN’s disruptive bedding business Ecosa has created ‘the perfect mattress’ – and is selling it way cheaper than the big players.

Ecosa is also good for the environment, as well as a good night’s sleep, according to Mr Chan.

Mr Chan said many people go into the big stores to buy a high quality mattress and they are automatically presented with a price of $5000.

“They don’t necessarily give you the best that they have, but they just want to manage you for the most commission they can get,” Mr Chan told Talking Business.

After the customer shows some uncertainty, they’ll usually drop the price more than 50 percent to about $2000, he said.

But that is still expensive. Ecosa sells quality mattresses for around $900. 

THE ECOSA SYSTEM

How does he do it?

For a start, the business is totally online. Which means customers can check the mattress out in their own time, and take as long as they want to make sure it suits them and they are getting a good deal.

“We cut down the price and make the best out of a best mattress,” Mr Chan said.

“We only have one type of mattress. You buy it and it’s shipped to your house, and if you don’t like it, you can return it.”

He believes this offers the customer more value than buying a mattress from a store.

“You think you are testing the mattress (at a store) but you can only lay down at the most for 10 minutes,” he said. “You’re not going to lay down on each mattress for 30 minutes, or sleep on it.

“Most likely you’ll be buying the softest mattress. The first time experience, the soft mattress feels good but when you are sleeping on a mattress more than that, there’s back support and spine alignment and all these other things.”

SLEEPING WITH ECO TECHNOLOGY

Ecosa mattresses are both eco-friendly and ergonomic. The mattresses have water-proof inner covers, G7 gel memory foam, Eco-tex memory foam, ergonomic support foam, and a removable Tencel cover. Each mattress also has an ergonomic cut where it is shaped into the customer’s hips and shoulders.

Somehow, the Ecosa sells at half the price of any mattress with memory foam, and that includes delivery and free trial.

They also use the most eco-friendly material, which is why the company is called Ecosa.

The materials for the mattresses are made in Germany, Japan and Korea and the product is assembled in China. 

GIVING BACK

Mr Chan has also integrated philanthropy into his business model. 

If a customer returns a mattress, Ecosa will donate it to charities like the Salvation Army. In this way, Ecosa’s return products go to help the community and do not end up in landfill.

“In Australia, it’s not very good to sell a second hand mattress, so if we let people donate the mattress, we are not selling it, so why don’t we donate it to charity?” Mr Chan said.

The result: Ecosa has donated thousands of mattresses and pillows to charities – and not only in Australia.  Ecosa launched in Australia in 2015, followed by Hong Kong and New Zealand in 2016, the USA in December 2017 and Canada in 2019.

Mr Chan said Ecosa also donates free bamboo pillow cases to cancer support groups and sheets to health care groups.

“We help out where we can,” he said.

Mr Chan said the company is now expanding into other areas such as bamboo-based sheets and a bedside table with technology incorporated to help people sleep better.

www.ecosa.com.au

www.leongettler.com

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness.  

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THE ICONIC AUSTRALIAN Ampol brand is officially back on Queensland forecourts, with the opening of the first revitalised Ampol store in Redbank Plains.

A company spokesperson said the Ampol service station and store opening marked "an important step in the future of the company, showcasing its high-quality fuels and convenience retail offering to Queenslanders under the Ampol brand for the very first time".

The reversion to the original Australian Ampol brand was brought about after Chevron, the US company that had licenced use of the Caltex trademarked brand in Australia, withdrew the agreement for Australian use when the arrangement concludes towards the end of 2022. 

Joanne Taylor, executive general manager for retail and brand culture, said that while the revitalised Ampol looks a bit different to the Ampol of yesterday, the company’s "values and proposition for customers remain the same". 

“Ampol remains a proud Australian company and customers can expect the same great customer service and high-quality products when they step into Ampol stores, underpinned by our market-leading infrastructure and networks and commitment to playing a positive role in local economies and communities," Ms Taylor said.

“The Redbank Plains site also brings to life our drive to be world-class in everything we do and celebrate the best of our convenience offering through the Foodary and our unparalleled experience with premium fuels through our Amplify range. We know all our customers are excited by Ampol’s return and we look forward to welcoming Queenslanders back onto Ampol forecourts as we roll out the new brand across the state."

Ampol has a rich history in Queensland, with Brisbane being the home of the company’s Lytton refinery that came online in 1965.

The new Redbank Plains site, which sees the brand back in Queensland for the first time in 25 years, combines Ampol’s shop format, Foodary, with its new Amplify premium fuels to provide a one-stop shop that meets all the fuel and convenience needs of customers," Ms Taylor said.

Ampol has been designing and formulating fuels for the Australian market since 1900. The latest Amplify range draws on 120 years of experience and its ongoing focus on the latest global technology "to deliver performance fuels that clean and protect engines and allow customers to get the most out of every tank". 

The opening of Redbank Plains marks the beginning of a state-wide roll out, which will see more than 400 sites rebranded over the next two years, and 1,900 across the entire country, with the project to complete at the end of 2022.

www.ampol.com.au

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By Leon Gettler

EVERY BUSINESS is now engaged in remote work. But according to a survey by Riverbed Technology, many businesses find it challenging.

John Milionis, the channel director for Riverbed’s Asia-Pacific Japan network, said working from home thrust upon business by COVID-19 just exacerbated a trend that was already out there. All COVID did was make it mandatory for employees.

He said Riverbed, which has been around since 2004 and works with 92 percent of the world’s top 2000 organisations, had undertaken a global study on the future of work in response to the changes thrust upon business by COVID-19. 

“Some of those challenges are really around ensuring that their workforce can be as productive at home as they were in the office,” Mr Milionis told Talking Business.

“Certainly another one of those challenges is around security. Networks and infrastructure were built around a certain landscape, most of us being at work, in the office, in our principle place of work and all of a sudden we’re now at home and potentially that outlines security risk.”

SORTING OUT PERFORMANCE

Mr Milionis said Riverbed identified issues around performance such as slow file downloads, buffering – and competing with one’s children when mum and dad are trying to work while the youngsters were home learning or ‘smashing’ YouTube.

The other interesting part of the Riverbed survey was that around 70 percent of companies had not prepared themselves to support employees working from home.

“In other words, their business wasn’t ready to allow everyone to be mobile and to perform at their optimum,” Mr Milionis said.

He said issues around poor quality of audio and video was also relevant to the way people work now.

“In modern day work places, there’s probably a couple of key things we do and one is we use a hell of a lot of video and the second is we collaborate and share a lot of things,” he said.

“The challenges around that have certainly been prevalent. It suggests that visibility of the IT infrastructure is really critically important for business leaders.

“When we are unable to perform at our optimum or when we do have issues around things like buffering, or slow videos, or slow files, it does impact on the economics of any business so having visibility as to why and being able to remediate that is really important.”

He said that also created a lot of stress for employees who have to work from home, impacting on employee productivity.

BUSINESS IMPACTS OF HOME WORK

Mr Milionis said the Riverbed survey had found that in excess of 20 percent of businesses now found their employees were working from home full time.

Mr Milionis said that affected a lot of dynamics like return on investment, barriers to success, and areas where the business needed to invest

“Some of those barriers involve the ability of giving their remote workers that office feel so they can work at their optimum, they can do their work and be as efficient as possible,” he said.

“So things like improving performance, improving file downloads.” 

He said Riverbed could provide businesses with software that could sit on a business lap top and make key applications perform a lot better.”

Mr Milionis said if businesses were going to move to having virtual workforces, they needed to empower that talent for them to perform.

He said there were three variables that impacted the performance of that talent: where is the talent located, what are the applications they are trying to use and where are the application servers hosted?

“Once you triangulate that, you can start building your IT infrastructure,” he said.

www.riverbed.com

www.leongettler.com

Hear the complete interview and catch up with other topical business news on Leon Gettler’s Talking Business podcast, released every Friday at www.acast.com/talkingbusiness. 

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