“Humbled and proud to have had the biggest Quality Business awards ever.”
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That was the comment coming out of the Tamworth Business Chamber following a record sell-out crowd of over 800 people attending the gala night at the TRECC on Friday night.
The huge crowd saw Sigma Aerospace take out the triple, including the top gong of Best Regional Business, although the key message to come from stakeholders was the the awards success was a direct reflection of the current climate of the local business community.
Chamber President Jye Segboer said that the room “looked and felt amazing.”
“The night was never about us as a Chamber, it was about restoring faith in the role the Chamber plays in the Tamworth community and will continue to play in the growth and development of Tamworth,” Mr Segboer said.
“It felt like the entire Tamworth business community took a big deep breath all together for the first time in a long time, as if to say we are proud to be part of this business community and we can weather any storm together.”
A new independent and transparent judging process, as well as a few other changes breathed new life into the annual event this year, and the chamber team of Mr Segboer, Jill Stewart and Mary Ryan aren’t resting on their laurels, already hoping to gather feedback “to go bigger and better again next year.”
Mayor Col Murray gave a rousing speech on the night, congratulating the Chamber for the renewed vigour, as well as urging local business owners and stakeholders to carry on the good work, finishing his address with apt encouragement.
“We need to bite off more than we can chew, and as a business community, chew like hell,” Mr Murray said.
Earlier in the piece the Mayor gave some insight into the future of the local business community, perhaps even laying out some targets for future success.
“As we all know, Tamworth is a growing and thriving regional city,” Cr Murray said.
“While we can all be proud of where our city sits and how it compares against our regional cousins, the reality is we need to set our sights on becoming the next Toowoomba, or the next Ballarat or Bendigo.
“We need to think bigger. We need to manoeuvre the region forward, not inch by inch, but in leaps and bounds.
“Tamworth needs an entrepreneurial culture that encourages innovation and celebrates business success.”
