LOCAL young entrepreneurs Matthew Ozolins and Ory Purhonen from Bomaderry’s Webics have won Junior Chamber International awards for Top Outstanding Young Persons at a gala dinner held at Sydney Harbour.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Ozolins said it was an honour to be nominated for the awards by Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis.
“We want to help inspire other young people to strive to achieve their best,” he said.
“It was pretty cool to know Ann Sudmalis sees those qualities in us.
“We hope this achievement will allow us to substantiate networks so we can help to assist young people.”
Mr Ozolins and Mr Purhonen have been involved in charity work, including donating to Variety and the Oliver Tiyce Car and Bike Show fund-raiser for Sydney Children’s Hospital.
“I think that made us a point of difference to the judges,” Mr Ozolins said.
“We hope to continue our growth as a business so we can continue to help our community and young people.”
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Education Senator Scott Ryan was a guest speaker at the gala dinner.
Mr Ozolins said it was a fabulous opportunity.
“He spoke to us about the government’s youth engagement agenda,” he said.
“It was very beneficial and inspiring.”
Mr Ozolins and Mr Purhonen also had the opportunity to participate in a Youth Engagement Forum and a Youth Entrepreneurialism Forum while in Sydney with Hunter Johnson (Foundation for Young Australians), Darren Lomman (Dreamfit Foundation), Holly Ransom (G20 Youth Summit chairperson) and Alison Vidler (Gosford Chamber of Commerce and Industry).
“We were honoured to speak at the forums,” Mr Ozolins said.
JCI is a not-for-profit organisation for active citizens aged 18 to 40 in over 120 countries.
It congregates young people who are dedicated to creating a sustainable impact in their communities and aims to provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change.
The best projects and initiatives compete on local, regional, national and international levels where entries are evaluated by a panel of international judges.
JCI has been operating in Australia for 81 years.
