A passion for achievement

In this special liftout edition we are delighted to introduce to you the 40under40 class of 2005.

Now in its fourth year, the 40under40 program has identified and profiled a total of 160 outstanding young individuals since 2002.

During the past few months WA Business News has tracked a large number of these past winners. Their ongoing progress and achievements continue to amaze and inspire and it has been a privilege to bring to you, our readers, many of their individual stories

A record number of nominations and entries were received this year. At the closing date of December 10 2004 a total of 178 nominations had been received, each and every one worthy of consideration. Just to be nominated is in itself an acknowledgement of the high esteem that peers in the industry have for the individual nominated.

A panel of 19 judges received all the finalists’ entries for judging on December 15. All leaders in their respective fields, the judges come from a wide range of industries, which helped ensure a robust and balanced result.

Each of them invested a considerable amount of their personal time to analyse and make a determination on each entry as per the required exacting judging criteria.

We are all indebted to them for helping making the program the success it is and we offer our thanks and appreciation.

A common theme coming from the judges was the level of talent, entrepreneurship, innovation and passion that shone through from the nominated entries. Furthermore, despite being able to achieve huge goals in their chosen field of endeavour they were still able to find time and make the commitment to contribute in other ways in the community.

The range of industries represented was also a strong feature.

The resources, hospitality and tourism, health, property and service industries were all well represented as were retail, the not-for-profit sector, local government, conservation and telecommunications.

Education also played a big role with more than 75 per cent of the 40under40 having at least one university degree.

Continued learning and personal development and being able to bounce back and learn from mistakes with total confidence and self belief were other features of the 40under40 winners.

Interestingly only a quarter of the final 40 are the founders and proprietors of their own businesses.

The entrepreneurs and leaders as defined by this program are found in a wide range of commerce and industry sectors, and it was the view of the judges that this is the unique aspect of the 40under40 Awards – it discovers talent and endeavour that would not otherwise be recognised.

To grow as a society and as a business community we all need role models and mentors.

Members of the 40under40 class of 2005 are at an age where they can still make a huge impact as well as influence many others by their leadership and example.

We hope that by shining the spotlight on this amazing group of people their success will inspire and motivate.