It's surely a sign of the times that a business built on batteries is the 2025 IMB Illawarra Business of the Year.
With its plant in the Montague Street light industrial precinct in North Wollongong and its HQ on UOW's Innovation Campus, Sicona Battery Technologies is helping lead Australia's charge towards an electrified future.
For our region's business community, this is their night of nights, where our highest achievers are recognised for stepping up, innovating, going above and beyond and setting the benchmark for others to follow.
A crowd of more than 600 business leaders gathered at the WIN Entertainment Centre on Friday night to celebrate the outstanding achievements of local enterprises at a glittering awards night, now in its 31st year and presented by Business Illawarra.
"Businesses across the Illawarra are doing it tough. Costs are rising, red tape is biting, and confidence in some sectors is at its lowest point in years," said the executive director of Business Illawarra, Coralie McCarthy.
"That makes tonight more important," she said. "Taking time to recognise hard work and achievement sends a powerful message: that resilience and innovation are alive in our region, and that business will remain at the heart of our recovery."
The awards brought into one room the best of the best of our region's businesses and for Symbio Wildlife Park, it was a night to remember, picking up two big awards in their 50th year in operation.
But it was one of the region's futuristic businesses that stole the show. Sicona Battery Technologies is at the cutting edge and won over the judges to take the top award for seeing a future where electric vehicles drive further, charge faster and energy storage batteries are accessible to all.
The full list of winners are:
|
Category name |
Winner |
|
Excellence in Tech |
Green Gravity |
|
Outstanding Employee |
Tiarna Snow - Housing Trust |
|
Outstanding Young Business Leader |
Aaron Mulhall - Specialised Energy Solutions |
|
Outstanding Business Leader |
Matthew Radnidge - Symbio Wildlife Park |
|
Excellence in International Business |
Sicona Battery Technologies |
|
Excellence in Workplace Culture |
Housing Trust |
|
Excellence in Innovation |
PhysioHealth Corrimal |
|
Excellence in Sustainability |
Green Gravity |
|
Outstanding Community Organisation |
Multicultural Communities Council of Illawarra |
|
Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion |
The Flagstaff Group |
|
Outstanding New Business |
Dharawal Distilling Co. |
|
Excellence in Micro Business |
Supercalla Private Properties |
|
Excellence in Small Business |
Tiny Tins |
|
Excellence in Large Business |
Joint Vision Orthopaedic Group |
|
Outstanding Local Chamber |
Shoalhaven Business Chamber |
|
Outstanding Visitor Experience |
Symbio Wildlife Park |
|
Excellence in Sustainable Tourism |
Symbio Wildlife Park |
|
Business of the Year |
Sicona Battery Technologies |
