Yabra from Narooma, NSW wins Secondary Company of the Year
Yabra has enjoyed tremendous success this year. What once began as a small group of students has become an award winning corporation of young entrepreneurs! We decided to produce environmental awareness stickers to reduce energy and water use. We never even dreamed that we would one day be the Australian, national company of the year!
This is a fantastic achievement from a small regional company of only 7 students and 5 mentors. Yabra were known as the Magnificent 7 around Narooma and are a great asset to this small regional town. Allan van Breukelen (General Manager and Sales Director) "Yabra would never be here without the support of the enduring community, our dedicated mentors and our own everlasting spirit and desire to achieve." The students were mentored by Narooma locals Gim Grant, Maggie Havu, Michael Knight, Kath Doust and Raye Gale.
"When we started we never dreamed that we'd sell more than 500 stickers, our final sales figure was 1245 stickers sold! We returned $11 per share to each shareholder that purchased a $2 share at the beginning of the program and also donated 10 cents from every stick sold to the local brancj of WIRES. The Young Achievement Australia Business Skills Program™ has given us invaluable skills, confidence, knowledge and experience that will no doubt come in very handy in the future. Young Achievement Australia has taught us the fundamental skills that you just don't get from textbooks. What we have learnt through practical experience has prepared us for our future careers!"
The Young Achievement Australia Business Skills Program™ requires students to run an ethical, sustainable and socially responsible business at all times and Yabra have certainly achieved that. All students participating have the chance to learn what it's like to run a real business and put their ideas into action in a mentored and supportive environment.
At the ACT and South NSW award night, Yabra was the only company to be nominated for all 10 company awards. Yabra picked up 5 of the available awards including: best business plan, marketing initiative award, best use of technology award, special performance award and most importantly, the secondary company of the year award! Yabra became a national finalist for these awards. The Young Achievement Australia national award night was held in front of 450 people in the Grand Ballroom at the Westin, Sydney. The televised event was attended by many top Australian political and corporate figures. The highlight was having Yabra awarded as the national company of the year!
