Irish Australian Business Awards Peoples Choice 2019

Corfad Civil and Construction was started in October 2015 by Colm Hand. The name of the company is in recognition of town Colm comes from in Ireland and that is a very important part in Colm's life.
Colm had gained experience in rail maintenance and construction while working as a Project Manager and Engineer for an Austrian Rail company in Australia.

Colm saw there was a growing niche market within the rail industry due to the large commitment from the Australian government to rapidly grow the rail network nationally. There was a gap for skilled weld teams and Hi-Rail mobile plant, and this is the area that we have targeted with great success.
Corfad was started with personal funding. By the second year the turnover exceeded $5 million. The projected turnover for 2019/20 exceeds $10 million.

The business was started with one piece of plant and one weld team and has now grown to have 11 large mobile plant equipment, 10 small trucks, 3 prime movers with trailers, 12 full time staff and up to 90 casual staff on the books.
 

A major part of Colms growing success was ensuring that his permanent employees are highly skilled in their areas and able to support the company’s development.

Corfad has invested in very hi-tech new mobile Hi- Rail plant with each already earmarked for large rail projects, ensuring a high return on investment. We have created a time saving method for preparing for rail shut down work by manufacturing our own weld crates that are prepacked for mobilisation at short notice.

Strong communication skills and excellent networking contacts ensure that Corfad is growing in a sustainable fashion. New opportunities have come through these contacts and this was one of the reasons for our expansion into Victoria, where there is large investment in the rail industry
Some of our major projects have been on the: Newcastle Light Rail, Sydney Light Rail, Canberra Light Rail and now on the major Inland Rail Project. After very strong submissions and interviews we are now also being considered for the Weld Panel and Plant Panel with Sydney Trains. Our clients include: ARTC, Sydney Trains, Victorian Rail, John Hollands, Laing O’Rourke, Downer and Colm’s former employer Rhomberg Rail.

Colm has recognised that safety is a very important part of compliance in the Rail business and employed a full time HSEQ manager to ensure that our risk management is to a very high standard. We have introduced a new Safety, Environment and Quality software system that is able to be used on apps or tablets onsite. We are currently undergoing accreditations to obtain ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018. We are confident that we will have achieved this by the end of September 2019.

A very important part of Colm’s aspirations for Corfad Civil and Construction was to ensure that the business has a family friendly approach to the workplace, and this has ensured that the staff are happy and dedicated to the ongoing success of the business. This approach has created a workplace that created a “can do” attitude that has earned us a very positive reputation in the industry.

GCE Contractors Pty Ltd is a civil construction company based in South East Queensland, established by director Martin Grealish in 2013.

Since establishment, GCE Contractors has grown significantly, operating an extensive fleet and successfully delivering small, medium and large-scale projects for clients including Brisbane City Council, Noosa Shire Council, Queensland Urban Utilities, Coles Group Property Developments, Downer EDI and Georgiou.

GCE Contractors are ISO certified for Quality (ISO 9001:2015), Safety (AS/NZS 4801:2001 and OHSAS 18001:2007) and Environmental (ISO 14005:2015) and also hold a Licence to Perform Demolition Work and a DEHP/EPA Regulated Waste Transport Permit.  GCE Contractors are also Prequalified with the Department of Transport and Main Roads under the Austroads’ National Prequalification System for Civil (Road and Bridge) Construction Contracts.

After four years’ experience in the construction industry in Ireland having graduated in 2006 in Building Services Engineering from Letterkenny Institute of Technology the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) caught up with me and I took a break and travelled to Australia to visit friends and see what would happens. In my 6 month stay in WA, I completed my regional farming work to get my second year visa and returned to Ireland in hope of economy improvement. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, and I arrived in back in Perth in 2011, where I joined a Perth consultancy firm and began my career working in the Building Services sector.

In December 2013 I joined Wood & Grieve Engineers (WGE) fire section which at that point was a team of 5 in the role of Fire Protection Engineer, where I continued learning and developing my skills as a young engineer within the WA industry. I particularly enjoy the new challenges involved with designing new and bespoke systems and learning from more experienced colleagues and fellow peers alike delivering projects including Perth Underground Busport, Perth DFO, New Museum Perth, Forrest Chase Redevelopment, Fremantle Civic Building and a number of Opal Aged Care Facilities to name a few.

After almost four years working as an engineer within WGE I was promoted to the role of Fire Project Engineer in December 2017. Since my promotion I feel I have grasped this opportunity which involves the business development, project tendering, project contractual review and agreement, design and delivery including construction phase supervision, invoicing and cost control on all projects.

As my new role is seen as a senior staff member, I also enjoy providing support to engineers and graduate engineers where required whilst also assuming the role of mentor within WGEs internal mentoring program. I believe that it is important to assist team members which improves knowledge and teamwork going forward.

I consider myself to be dedicated and goal focused and I also believe that in the past 18 months I have grown and matured within my new role whist maintaining a hunger to learn, to improve and to succeed further within my career. 

I started Vic Lagging in May 2016, and I had not even heard of Lagging until I started working in it after completing my farm work in July 2014. With no Financial support, as my partner and I were not residents at the time I struggled to even get a credit card for about 12 months.

Starting with one employee, within 6 months I had grown to 6 Full Time employees and went from small Commercial jobs to larger Commercial & Industrial projects across Melbourne.

As of today, I have 19 Full Time in employees and working on projects of all sizes including some of Melbournes most prestige developments including Capital Grand.

Since early 2015 Hunter Labour Hire have been developing innovative recruitment methods and procedures to ensure we are always at the top of our game when providing labour hire in Sydney. We have a solid reputation in the construction industry for providing high quality labourers on time and at the right price. While construction is still our main industry, over the years we have evolved and grown from Hunter Labour Hire into the HLH Group which now consists of 5 different divisions; Hunter Labour Hire, HLH Landscaping, HLH Manufacturing, HLH Electrical and HLH Office Support.

After recognising a niche in the market and receiving a high number of requests from landscaping companies we decided it was worth developing a division specific to this sector. Since this division was set up in 2018 we have built our client base significantly supplying large landscaping companies, irrigation and turf installers, horticultural specialists, golf courses and memorial parks directly.

While HLH Group have always had a number of manufacturing clients the time eventually came where this sector had grown enough to warrant its own specific division HLH Manufacturing. We supply to manufacturing companies in a range of industries including mining, engineering, FMCG and pharmaceutical.

Up until 2018 HLH Group’s core focus has always been labour hire however, an opportunity arose to set up our own electrical contracting division HLH Electrical. During busy times we have been able to source additional electricians through our extensive database and been able to facilitate clients that require electrical work completed on price as opposed to just the hourly labour hire rates.

I believe I would be a worthy Irish Australian Business Award winner for a number of reasons:
As our company slogan states, “Quality Tradespeople, quickly and safely.” We check the feedback quality of our candidates on a daily basis. We understand that labour hire is a very competitive industry and that to ensure clients continue to use our services we need to supply quality workers consistently. We also understand the importance of the safety of our workers and regularly carry out site inspections to ensure they’re working in a safe environment.

We look after all our workers as we know that happy tradies make happy clients. Approximately 50% of our new applicants are referred to us by previous HLH Group workers, this additional candidate pool gives us a competitive edge against other labour hire companies. We run an Employee of the Month scheme where we look at outstanding employees for that particular month and reward them with a $100 Westfield voucher for their hard work and reliability. We have a number of social events throughout the year including a trip to Melbourne Cup last year and a large Xmas party for all our onsite workers. We also have a generous commission and bonus structure in place to remunerate our recruitment consultants for generating new business.

We have the most reviews and highest rating on Google for labour hire in Sydney. These reviews are predominantly from candidates which is another indicator that we’re looking after our staff.

I completely love what I do, my business means everything to me, and has - thankfully - managed to give me and hopefully all 150 of our employees, a fulfilling life - knowing that every day our business helps set people on their way to a more educated, enhanced life.

At current standing, we look after and manage 12,500 students, ranged from 22 years of age to 71, spread across 43 countries - wholly online. Every one of them has a story to tell, a goal to reach, a career they wish to fulfil to the max. We get to help them do that - and we do that better than anyone else.

Four and a half years ago we started with 43 students as our first cohort - we've come a long way.

It's not a cliche; we make a difference to people's lives every single day. I find it easier to talk about us and what we do than I do myself, so forgive me. 

Michelle is someone who is kind, caring, driven and inspiring – she has progressed successfully throughout her time in Australia and has overcome a number of hardships, demonstrating resilience throughout. Arriving in 2012 with minimal work experience, Michelle arrived on a working visa with every intention of returning to her home town of Clonakilty after the year was up.

As an active member of the Irish community and of her industry, as well as someone who is constantly supporting everyone in her team, she is someone who absolutely leads from the front and is a fantastic representative of Irish in Australia.

In Michelle’s 2 years at Lotus People, she has made incredible headway. A business focussed on creating an ethical, positive and memorable candidate experience, Michelle’s values align perfectly with the businesses and she has gone from strength to strength.

As the person responsible for the most business development in the company, she is one of the reasons the organisation has grown its revenue year on year. We utilise an external survey platform for candidates and clients to rate our team and Michelle has an aggregate score of 96.41% for candidate experience and 94% for client experience.

As well as her professional success in the office, Michelle has been pivotal in developing a career program for disadvantaged youth through Stepping Stone House, where members of Lotus are partnered with a young person to deliver career advice, support and encouragement. Michelle spends time every two weeks working closely with her mentee, as well as taking part in two fundraising sleep-outs for homelessness and also running the city-to-surf to raise money for this charity. As well as this, Michelle is an active participant in the Irish community, attending most IACC events, completing charity runs through the Ireland Funds and volunteering for Christmas in July with the Irish Support Agency. Michelle was also a finalist for the Sydney Rose in 2015 - her first involvement in the Irish community in Australia and, although she didn’t win, she took so much from this experience and vowed to become more involved with the community here.

In her time in Australia, Michelle has had a number of setbacks, including having to leave the country for three months when visa regulations changed resulting in uncertainty about whether she could stay for good. Although she has had consistent visa issues, happily, she was granted PR last week after 2 ½ years of being on a bridging visa. As many of us know, this can cause a lot of uncertainty and can leave you feeling ungrounded and unsettled, however, Michelle handled this situation with dignity and grace.

In her time in Australia, she also lived through her brother’s serious illness, where he was hospitalised for 2 months. Whilst her family were by his bedside every day, she longed to hear the news that he was making a recovery. Thankfully he did make a full recovery, but it was a testing time for Michelle, being so far away.

As a proud Irish man in Australia I try to bring my upbringing and values into my professional career. This has stood me well to date in my Australian journey.

I joined Afterpay a small start-up in September 2015 as one of the first employees ( #3) .At the time we had 10-15 retailers and a few thousand customers using the payment platform.

Over the following 4 years I have helped the business to partner with some of the biggest Domestic & International retailers both Online & In-store. Focusing on ANZ and assisting in the entry to the US & UK we now partner with over 30,000 retailers and have 4.3M active customers. 

In my various sales functions, I have built teams and contributed significantly to our targets with underlying sales of approximately $4.7 billion in the 11 months to 31 May 2019.

I am a very active member of the GAA scene in NSW with my club young Ireland's. I have been a player for the past six seasons . During this time we had some success winning the Melbourne 7n's in 2014 and 2 league titles in 07 &08. I have also sat as chairman of the club for 1 term and been a member of the committee & NSW committee for a period of time.

I feel in my 7 years in AU my contribution at a personal level & to my company make me a worthy nominee . 

I am a professional accountant who in the last 12 months has overseen the delivery of the largest global conference for the accounting profession with almost 6000 attending in Sydney; established a tech start up in APAC growing business by 35% in the first quarter; connected countless Irish professionals to work or career development opportunities in Australia, and Australian and New Zealand businesses to opportunities to establish and grow in Ireland.

I have been incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent my profession on the global stage over the last number of years, whether that’s been through delivering initiatives to further education and development of third-world countries in Asia, Africa and beyond, or facilitating dialog amongst global business leaders around the importance of climate change becoming a business imperative for everyone.

Over the last 18 months I have spoken on stages in Africa, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Each time I have delivered addresses that speak to the need for the global accounting profession to collaborate for change and progression. And each time my speeches have left no doubt in the minds of the audience that I stood in front of them as a proud Irish professional, advocating for change in the profession I work in; my name badge just happened to reflect an Australian employer.

In everything I do I bring an enormous level of passion, innovation and logic and I would attribute my successes to these skills. However, I think it’s my unapologetic display of Irishness that has set me apart from my peers. I recognise the need to bring humour, storytelling, and a smile to even the most high-stress of situations. I’d even go so far as to acknowledge that Irish irreverence is often the make or break of a successful meeting. But above all else it’s my ability to join dots and connect people that is my biggest asset; I love nothing more than being able to connect one idea or individual to another, seemingly unrelated, one, and facilitate the conversation to spark ideas and solutions, that otherwise wouldn't have been possible.

I see these awards as being a recognition of Irish business success on a global stage, and furthering Ireland Inc in the process. If my small steps of wearing my Irishness on my sleeve in all that I do in Australia and overseas has helped raised Ireland’s profile, then I would be in good company on that shortlist.

Having moved from Limerick to Perth in 2001 at the age of 20 with my family, I have taken on the “Aussie” way of life while still having that Irish charm, so many “talk” about. After studying at ECU in Perth, I pursued a career in HR/Recruitment. My first 2 years were focused on recruiting nurses from overseas where I fell into my now fourteen-year career in migration. I am truly passionate about helping people and it is a real privilege to have helped so many clients realise their dreams of migrating to Australia. For me, there is nothing better than advising a client that their PR has been granted. I still get emotional.

Predominantly working in corporate migration, I have built many relationships over my 14 years with small to medium size enterprises as well as major global oil and gas companies. Managing large oil and gas migration programs comes with ease but plenty of pre-planning is always involved.

I bring vibrancy, authenticity and passion to all I do in life, including my working life. My clients love my no-nonsense approach to their migration problems and know that I will go the extra mile to ensure they are successful in their migration program. 

In my current role as Principal for Livingstones & SHR Group, I am responsible for the continued growth of the practice and providing guidance to my team ensuring strong customer service is always at the forefront. I’ve been in this role since March 2019, and I am excited to take the business in a new direction where I will diversify our service offering as well as the industries we service.

With a proven track record in management, customer service and recruitment, I bring strong insight into the need for business to bring in skilled workers from overseas and the benefit they bring to Australia through their skilled expertise. Recruiting a candidate from overseas always comes with its own complexities. I have assisted many businesses in managing their recruitment and immigration strategy as a broader part of their global mobility program.

Having extensive experience and specialisation in corporate migration, I have worked with some of Australia's largest corporations across multiple industries ranging from Oil & Gas and Resources, Finance, Information Technology, Health, Banking and Education. I help clients focus on compliance, while also striving to ensure clients are provided with a pragmatic and commercially sensible immigration solution.

I am very focused about migration and this is evident in all I do for my clients as I understand that moving is one of the most stressful journeys you can take, having migrated myself.

I am a passionate performer and for many years I have enjoyed travelling around Ireland with my musician friends singing and playing guitar. My husband who is also a musician ensures that our two boys are surrounded by this wonderful gift.