RedBalloon Founder & CEO nominated for 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
Announcement posted by Red Balloon 03 Jun 2011
Monday 30 May 2011:Naomi Simson, founder and CEO of online experiential gift retailer RedBalloon is amongst a select group of 79 of Australia’s top entrepreneurs in the running to be named this year’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.
At start-up RedBalloon was completely new: an online gifting service aggregating over 1,500 unique experiences – massage, sailing, chocolate tours, cookery lessons, car racing and skydiving – across Australia. For the public, RedBalloon offered gift vouchers; for organisations it put together reward and recognition solutions, corporate gifts and sales incentives to help keep employees and customers motivated, rewarded and engaged.
Since inception, the company has been cash flow positive, experiencing a phenomenal rate of growth. Today, RedBalloon is a $36 million business. It has also expanded to incorporate a real-time activities booking service, GoDo New Zealand, RedBalloon WA and RedBalloon Events.
Simson is in her 10th year as CEO of the business and shows no sign of slowing down as an entrepreneur, with RedBalloon recently recording a greater than 60 percent year-on-year revenue growth.
“This nomination is a fabulous acknowledgment for all women who start businesses, and who believe in their people. It’s an acknowledgement for suppliers and team members past and present who took a chance to try something different ” says Simson.
The 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year nominees comes from fields as diverse as shoes, beer brewing, emergency international security, pet products, gas exploration and development, and medical supplies.
Nominees will first vie for regional award honours, then in November these regional winners will compete for the national title. The 2011 Australian winner will travel to Monte Carlo in 2012 to join an elite list of the very best entrepreneurs from around the globe to contend for the title of Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur Of The Year.
Previous Australian winners include the entrepreneurial brains behind businesses such as Atlassian, Carsales.com, and Res Med, while past World Entrepreneur Of The Year winners have included the founders of Amazon and IKEA.
Naomi Simson shares her entrepreneurial advice and learnings to the business community on her blog naomisimson.com
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