Entries have officially opened to the 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards – a prestigious and comprehensive programme that celebrates the growing number of female small business owners from across the country.

This year marks the second consecutive year of the Awards, which spotlight the achievements of some of the nation’s most inspiring women in small business. From farmers and mechanics to compounding chemists and environmentalists, the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards is arguably among the most diverse in terms of the breadth of represented industries and sectors.

Featuring more than 55 small business award categories and four individual categories – Young Small Business Champion Woman Entrepreneur (aged 30 and younger), Small Business Champion Woman Entrepreneur (aged over 30), Australian Small Business Champion Influential Woman and Australian Small Business Champion Icon – online entry to the 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards is FREE and will remain open until 21 July 2023.

According to Australian Government data, female small business owners currently represent more than one-third of all small businesses, and 2022-released data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a 46 per cent jump in women business owners during the past two decades. Research by Asialink suggests boosting the number of female business owners to equal that of men, could add between $70 billion and $135 billion to the economy.

“There’s no doubting the rising success of female small business owners from all corners of this country,” says Steve Loe, Awards Founder and Managing Director of Precedent Productions, which coordinates the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.

“Precedent Productions has been running the Australian Small Business Champion Awards since 1999 but especially during the past few years, we’ve noticed a steep rise in the success of female-owned small businesses in particular; so much so that we deemed it appropriate to have a standalone awards programme that showcases and honours the truly impressive work of women in small business,” adds Mr Loe.

The 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards is sponsored by Nine Plus, CUB, NOVA Employment, Castaway Forecasting, Xcllusive Business Sales and Big Clean.

Created and managed by Precedent Productions – a small business in its own right – the 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards will culminate in a National Presentation Evening Gala Event to be held on Saturday 23 September 2023 at the new Western Sydney Conference Centre at Penrith in NSW.

For more information and to submit an entry form, visit: womensbusinesschampions.com.au.