An agricultural enterprise, a luxury cruise liner operator, a foreign exchange and money transfer provider and a securities trading house are the businesses behind this year’s Eastern Region winners of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program.

Michelle Nugan of Nugan Group, Sarina Bratton of Orion Expedition Cruises, Matthew Gilmour of OzForex and Danny Bhandari of Tibra Capital were named the region’s best entrepreneurs at an awards dinner in Sydney last night.

Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Markets Managing Partner Jon Dobell says the winners are testament to the great wealth of entrepreneurial talent in our business community.

The 17 Eastern Region finalists in the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program between them employ more than 1,365 people and generate close to half a billion dollars for the NSW economy.

The Eastern Region winners will go on to compete for the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year national award in Sydney on 27 November 2008.

Michelle Nugan, Nugan Group (Products)
Michelle Nugan became CEO of the Nugan Group in 1986 and has since successfully diversified the family agricultural enterprise to incorporate export juice products to Asia, horticultural properties and premium wine and olive oil production. What began in 1940 as a small family fruit and vegetable operation in Griffith, NSW is now one of Australia’s most successful agricultural enterprises with annual turnover of $80 million.

Sarina Bratton, Orion Expedition Cruises (Services)
With 25 years experience in the travel industry, working for the Cunard Line and founding the Norwegian Capricorn Line, Sarina Bratton has long held a passion and interest in Australia’s leisure and cruise industry. She now operates Orion Expedition Cruises, a relatively young business that provides guests unique travel experiences into some of the most spectacular and pristine wilderness environments in the world in 5 star luxury.

Matthew Gilmour, OzForex (Technology)
OzForex is one of the world’s largest providers of foreign exchange and international money transfer services with offices in Sydney, London and Toronto. Established in 2000 by Matthew Gilmour, the company was established based on the concept of providing easier, faster and cheaper online foreign exchange services. Within three years OzForex was processing $5 million in customer transactions every month, quickly growing to $50 million per month by 2004. The business continues to grow with more than US$3 billion in foreign exchange transactions in 2007, serving more than 35,000 customers worldwide.

Danny Bhandari, Tibra Capital (Young Entrepreneur)
Two years ago at just 28 years of age, Danny Bhandari and partners established Tibra Capital, independently owned and operated securities trading house. The business now has offices around the world. Tibra Capital has traded in all major equity markets and has traded trillions of dollars worth of transactions, executing up to 50,000 transactions per day. It is one of the most successful and fastest growing companies in its industry.

Michael Traill, Social Ventures Australia (Social Entrepreneur)
Michael Traill is the founding CEO of Social Ventures Australia, an organisation offering innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. He helped establish the organisation in 2002 after 15 years as a co-founder and executive director of Macquarie Bank's venture capital arm, Macquarie Direct Investment. Michael has used the strengths of the ‘venture capital’ model to help identify and evaluate existing social ventures around Australia that are likely to achieve longterm sustainable change. Since its inception the organisation has raised over $25 million from corporate foundations and individuals. It has reviewed more than 700 social ventures and is currently supporting 16 nationally.

Harry Triguboff, Meriton Apartments (Champion of Entrepreneurship)
Harry Triguboff is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Meriton Group which has built about 55,000 residential dwellings since it was established 45 years ago. Harry has become synonymous with residential apartment building in Australia and has won numerous awards for his contributions to the building, construction and housing industry. He has made the Meriton Group Australia’s largest homebuilder with more people purchasing apartments from Meriton than any other developer in the country. Harry also remains committed to supporting and funding significant philanthropic interests including the Colorectal Cancer Fund Research Fellowship and the Sydney National Cancer Foundation. He has funded extensive medical research including St Vincent’s Hospital for research into arthritis, the Heart Research Institute for research into anti-inflammatory drugs, the Murdoch Institute for research into the early diagnosis of childhood diseases, and also research into breast cancer.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program

Since Ernst & Young’s global program started in Australia in 2001, over 800 leading Australian entrepreneurs have been recognised for their entrepreneurial spirit. Entrants are assessed by a leading panel of independent judges on their innovation, integrity, influence, strategic direction and national/global impact. Their relationships with their local communities are also taken into account.

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year is one of the leading business awards programs in Australia and the only program of its kind with an international platform. Founded and produced by Ernst & Young, and launched in Australia in 2001, it celebrates entrepreneurs who build and lead successful businesses. The international recognition of the awards positions finalists and winners as world-class entrepreneurs and provides a benchmark for entrepreneurial excellence.

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program is conducted across five regions with these winners progressing to the national awards ceremony in November. In total across the nation, there are 83 entrepreneurs in this year’s awards. Independent judging panels drawn from a broad range of successful Australian businesses assess the entrepreneurs on their innovation, integrity, influence, strategic direction, and national or global impact.

The Australian Entrepreneur of the Year is invited to represent Australia at the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year held annually in June in Monte Carlo. Former Australian winners have included Peter Farrell of ResMed Limited (2001), John Rothwell AO of Austal Limited (2002), David Bussau AM of Opportunity International (2003), Robert Gerard AO of Gerard Corporation (2004), Tony D’Antonio and Peter Hosking of Global Machinery Company Worldwide (2005), Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar of Atlassian (2006) and Shane Yeend of Imagination (2007).

The program was first established in the US in 1986. Entrepreneur of the Year winners outside of Australia include Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems (1987), Michael Dell of Dell Computer (1989), Howard Schultz of Starbucks (1991), Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (1997), Eddie Jordan of Jordan Grand Prix (2000), Narayana Murthy of Infosys Technologies (2003), Wayne Huizenga of Blockbuster Entertainment (2005), Guy Laliberte of Cirque du Soleil (2007) and Dr Jean-Paul Clozel of Actelion (2008).

In Australia the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program is sponsored by Westpac Business Banking, Qantas and supported by the Federal Government through Austrade.