Chinchilla’s top businesses in the spotlight

The strength of local businesses was on show last Saturday night when Surat Basin Homes was announced as Business of the Year against a top line-up of competitors in the 2011 Chinchilla Community Commerce & Industry (CCCI) Business Excellence Awards.

Surat Basin Homes received the top honour at a presentation dinner at the Chinchilla RSL Memorial Club after scoring the highest number of points in this year’s Business Excellence Awards.

The dinner was attended by 180 guests who celebrated the achievements of the many Chinchilla organisations who proved their worth by undertaking a rigorous process of self-assessment against exacting criteria before being assessed by a panel of 3 independent judges from academia, government and business consultancy.

Awards were presented across three levels – Gold for organisations scoring 701 points or more, Silver for those scoring 601-700 points and Bronze for those scoring 500-600 points.

For the first time, this year the CCCI Awards were also open to not-for-profit organisations.

CCCI’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Fitzgerald said CCCI believed that its business model was equally applicable to any organisation, whether it was a church group, a school P&C or a community group run by volunteers.

“It was amazing how well it fit, and we will certainly be continuing this next year,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

“It’s not just about ‘business’ excellence these days; it’s really demonstrating ‘organisational excellence’ at all levels throughout the community.”

The following major awards were presented during the night:

Gold – Surat Basin Homes and WHK

Silver – Envision Partners and Chinchilla Dental Practice

Bronze – Chinchilla SES; Tu-Lagoons Nursery; Chinchilla Kitchens; Ergon Energy and Club Hotel & Central Motor Inn.

In addition, the following Criteria Encouragement Awards were presented to organisations who, in the opinion of the judges, deserved recognition for their efforts in particular aspects of their management process:

Leadership – Tu Lagoons Nursery

Strategic Planning – WHK

Process Management – Chinchilla SES

Information & Knowledge – The Apprenticeship Company

Customer & Markets – Club Hotel & Central Motor Inn

People – Keith Crawley

Success & Sustainability – Chinchilla Kitchens