The new business attraction marketing campaign highlights local business entrepreneurs who have made the Shoalhaven their home.

Council’s economic development manager Greg Pullen said the Shoalhaven was fortunate to have a talented, supportive and savvy business community.

“This campaign showcases some amazing individuals doing innovative and great things in the region,” he said.

“The campaign also features the diverse range of networking opportunities available to business owners.

“All of us who live and work in this area can stand up and say we are Proudly Shoalhaven.”

Proudly Shoalhaven stars 20 local business owners who share their business journey on why they chose the Shoalhaven to live, work and play.  

“The case studies reveal how businesses are addressing markets overseas, right across Australia, how they employ staff and those sorts of issues,”Mr Pullen said.

“The website is really there to capture interest from outside and these case studies are there to say ‘we’ve done it, we can do it, why don’t you come and join us’.

“We’ve got a mix of businesses, we even have one that’s being operated by the third generation. Some of them have grown out of a garage here from locals, others have moved into the area, and some are tied to defence contracts – they’re all different and they all have a different story and genesis of how they started here in the Shoalhaven.”

The campaign highlights the quality of local business expertise, the employee pool, resources, transport systems as well as the lifestyle benefits and each business owner reflects on living and working in the Shoalhaven.

Ulladulla’s Cupitt’s Winery is one success story to be featured on the economic development website, and will be released on October 22. 

“We’re very fortunate to work in a beautiful environment,” Cupitt’s customer experience manager Libby Cupitt said.

“It’s very inspiring for us, but it also brings lots of visitors to our business, it also helps us attract wonderful staff. We have been able to attract people who are talented, very reliable and enthusiastic to grow our business and be part of our culture.”

Mrs Cupitt said it was great to see business owners looking at new opportunities in different markets, such as Nowchem exporting baby care products into China and other parts of Asia.

“It’s really wonderful that we’re celebrating these inspiring businesses, there is a strong future for the next generation,” she said.

“The business community understands we need to be innovative and entrepreneurial to create jobs so their kids can stay in the region, I think that’s really happening now – they want to create businesses where people can grow and be happy in their careers.”

Hanlon Windows has been in operation for 39 years at Bomaderry and employs 85 people – the business has also been featured as a case study and is available HERE.   

“When I leave Sydney to come back to the South Coast, it’s just a different place, it’s a more relaxed lifestyle, that’s why people are making the choice to move from Sydney to the Shoalhaven,” owner and managing director Chance Hanlon said. 

“They can go to the beach without having 1000 people there, their kids can go to a school without being overcrowded. It’s all those sorts of things, it offers a really good balance.”

As a former president of the Shoalhaven Business Chamber, Mr Hanlon has been called on to mentor prospective business start-ups on a number of occasions.

“I really got involved with trying to get businesses down here and Greg Pullen has been very good over the years in contacting me to say he’s got someone who’s really interested and could I catch up with them for a coffee,” he said.

“They are the sorts of things we can do to try and get people to make that seachange.”

Hanlon Windows has a showroom in Drumoyne, Oak Flats and Bomaderry where the manufacturing also takes place, but it wasn’t always that way. 

“We used to manufacture in Sydney and Wollongong, it shows you we found it really difficult to find manufacturing staff to work in those locations, and we found it easier to find staff here in the Shoalhaven or get people to relocate to take a job with us,” Mr Hanlon said.

The campaign features a selection of businesses including:

This project is proudly funded by the NSW government through the Regional Growth — Marketing and Promotion Fund.