From thousands of entrants from right across the nation, just four have made the Agricultural Services Finalists List of the 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards – the nation’s biggest celebration of women in small business.

The only national awards programme of its kind created specifically to shine a spotlight on the rising economic, cultural and social contributions of female-led small businesses – spanning all capital cities as well as rural, regional and suburban towns – the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards is comprehensively judged according to stringent criteria by an independent expert panel.

Now in its third consecutive year, the 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards features more than 60 categories across retail, services and manufacturing industries, as well as individual categories in celebration of the year’s most inspiring female small business trailblazers.

Among this year’s most competitive categories, Agricultural Services is proving one of the most challenging categories to judge, says Steve Loe, Awards Founder and Managing Director of Precedent Productions, which coordinates the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.

“The quality of entrants in the Agricultural Services category in particular this year is truly very impressive. We received a high volume of submissions in this category and the shortlisting of this year’s finalists was quite the challenge for our judges.

“When the Champion Judges evaluate entries, they consider all aspects of a business: its strategies, growth, eco-friendliness, innovation, customer service and community support – to name but some of the criteria.

“The next rounds of judging will be intense as we continue to evaluate the achievements of this year’s four Agricultural Services finalists to reach one category winner,” says Mr Loe.

The four Agricultural Services category finalists are: Robinsons Honey (VIC), Intrepidus Wines (Yass, NSW), Goldtec Control Systems (SA) and SS Equine (NSW).

“Being selected as a finalist of this prestigious event – from a national entrant pool of thousands – is no easy feat and speaks volumes of the tenacity and leadership at each of these female-led small businesses.

“Despite the myriad challenges associated with small business ownership today, Australian women are simply powering through and showing incredible resilience and drive,” adds Mr Loe

According to Australian Government data, women account for around one-third of the nation’s small business owners and that number is rising more than three times the growth of their male counterparts. Furthermore, research from the Commonwealth Bank shows that women opened almost half (43.2 per cent) of all new business transaction accounts during the 2023 financial year.

Winners will be announced on Saturday 24 August in spectacular style at the 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards National Presentation Evening Gala at Sydney’s The Star.

For more information including a full list of the 2024 finalists, visit championawards.com.au/womens.

The 2024 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards programme is sponsored by Castaway Forecasting, Big Clean, Xcllusive Business Sales and NOVA Employment.