Securing the Australian distribution of international jewellery brand PANDORA in 2004, Karin Adcock has developed the company from the ground up. Starting from a garage in Avalon, Karin now runs a highly profitable business with in excess of 250 staff members, more than 35 branded concept stores and more than 700 retail accounts in Australia and New Zealand. As Managing Director she is responsible for all aspects of the business, from future direction to sales, marketing, operations, human resources and finance. Under Karin’s leadership PANDORA has sales of $118 million and $188 million in 2008 and 2009 respectively with regional retailers reporting that PANDORA is a strong part of their business. Many of the initiatives Karin and her team have launched in the Australian market are used worldwide in other PANDORA markets. PANDORA also donates financially and in-kind to numerous charity organisations and community projects, including the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Victorian Bush Fire Appeal.

Starting as a part-time, one-woman consulting venture, French-born Corinne Bot identified a niche in the human resources market while sourcing staff for French businesses in Australia. Despite challenges with raising capital, in 1995 Corinne began international recruitment business Polyglot Group. Corinne says the Polyglot business model is 100 per cent based on harnessing what she describes as Australia’s biggest asset – its multicultural society. The business provides customised multicultural and multilingual solutions to international companies investing in Australia as well as Australian companies expanding overseas. As founder and Chief Executive Officer, Corinne has achieved average business growth of 30 per cent a year since 1995. She has offices in NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, as well as a partnership in New-Caledonia. As an advisor for French Foreign Trade, Corinne mentors many young visitors to Australia, ensuring they build useful networks and return with a positive view of Australia for the future.

Securing the Australian distribution of international jewellery brand PANDORA in 2004, Karin Adcock has developed the company from the ground up. Starting from a garage in Avalon, Karin now runs a highly profitable business with in excess of 250 staff members, more than 35 branded concept stores and more than 700 retail accounts in Australia and New Zealand. As Managing Director she is responsible for all aspects of the business, from future direction to sales, marketing, operations, human resources and finance. Under Karin’s leadership PANDORA has sales of $118 million and $188 million in 2008 and 2009 respectively with regional retailers reporting that PANDORA is a strong part of their business. Many of the initiatives Karin and her team have launched in the Australian market are used worldwide in other PANDORA markets. PANDORA also donates financially and in-kind to numerous charity organisations and community projects, including the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Victorian Bush Fire Appeal.

Margaret Flynn is committed to social justice. In her early years as a Loreto Sister she volunteered in soup kitchens, refugee centres and shelters for the homeless. Today as CEO of the Catholic welfare organisation CentaCare Wilcannia-Forbes, Margaret works to improve the quality of life in rural and indigenous communities. In 1996 when the former teacher, school principal and family counsellor established the new CentaCare agency in the region, she had an old car, a borrowed desk, an electric typewriter missing several keys and an annual diocese budget of $3,000. One of Margaret’s greatest achievements has been in lobbying government to provide funding for remote rural areas of NSW. Today CentaCare’s budget stands at $16 million. Inspired by Mary Ward, the woman who started her order, Margaret vigorously champions the rights of women and indigenous communities. Of CentaCare’s 125 staff members, 85 per cent are women and 20 per cent are indigenous.

Physiotherapist Marnie Douglas turned her passion for education and training into founding her own physiotherapy clinic Ergoworks in 2003. The business soon expanded to include a national ergonomics consultancy after Marnie discovered a trend in ergonomic-related injuries. The consultancy assists companies with reducing workers compensation claims and helping to improve staff wellbeing. She says her greatest career achievement is the development of an online workstation assessment tool, ErgoAssess. The product is designed to enable businesses to determine the risk of injury for people using a computer and therefore minimise workplace injuries. Three years in the making, the ErgoAssess software is the first of its kind in Australia. Although Australian occupational health and safety laws do not require employees to receive a desk/risk assessment, the software empowers employers and employees with this knowledge. Marnie, a member of physiotherapy and ergonomics professional bodies, says her product has the potential to lower absenteeism and increase productivity rates.

Taking a well-paid role that did not satisfy her hunger to grow prompted 30-year-old marketer Lauren Brown to strike out on her own. Seven years later, Lauren is steering a fast-growing business of 14 fulltime staff that’s looking to open a second office interstate. Lauren’s initial grounding was at McDonald’s, which she left in search of new challenges that did not eventuate. After launching her own business with a handful of clients things came full circle - a few years later she was employing her onetime mentor from McDonald’s as her creative director. Now winning awards in its own right, Pulse Marketing Group focuses on long-term client relationships and constant innovation. Its streamlined Pulse Package product enables small to medium businesses to have their own marketing programs. Away from work, Lauren has walked the Kokoda Track and attained her scuba diving qualifications, striking a perfect work-life balance.