Hawkesbury Businesswoman Honoured At 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards

Longtime Hawkesbury local and co-founder and CEO of Kurrajong Kitchen has taken a top gong at the 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards.

Officially announced the winner of the Manufacturing category at the Awards’ glittering National Presentation Evening Gala Event held at the newly-built Western Sydney Conference Centre last Saturday, September 23, Karen Lebsanft was also a finalist for the title of 2023 Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Icon.

Thirty years since its inception, with Karen at the helm as CEO, Kurrajong Kitchen is a manufacturing powerhouse.

Its Lavosh flatbreads have become a staple of Australian pantries and entertaining platters; with the business going from making 30 packets weekly to a whopping 1.2 million pieces daily, proudly supporting Australian wheat farmers and still baking to the original recipe with 87 per cent Australian ingredients.

Overcoming myriad challenges including stark competition from big brand multinational corporations, and with a driving ambition to make Lavosh ‘the vegemite of the entertaining biscuit aisle’, Karen inspires women to have a good crack at their business dreams.

A proud Indigenous woman with oodles of accolades, resilience, adaptableness, a growth mindset and an unwavering belief in her business vision, Karen leads a team of more than 40 employees including Nova Employment-supported staff.

She supports a number of charities and worthwhile community initiatives both through Kurrajong Kitchen and personally.

Upon accepting the prestigious accolade before almost 1000 guests of the Awards event, Karen referenced the unprecedented manufacturing challenges of COVID-19 lockdowns, urging fellow businesswomen to ‘choose Australian-manufactured products whenever possible.

Karen also said the accolade paid tribute to the 73 per cent of the Kurrajong family who were female-represented within the business.

This year marks the second consecutive year of the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards - a prestigious and comprehensive program that celebrates the growing number of Australia’s most inspiring and influential women in small business.

According to Australian Government data, of the 3.3 million small businesses operating in Australia today, more than one-third are run by women and that figure is soaring.

Awards Founder and Managing Director of Precedent Productions, which coordinates the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards, Steve Loe said there was no doubting the rising success of female-led small businesses from all corners of the country.

“Just as the Matildas shone during this year’s World Cup, attracting the nation’s admiration and highlighting the positive contribution of women in sport, the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards program has been specifically created to shine a spotlight on the rising economic and social contributions of women in small business - spanning all capital cities as well as rural, regional and suburban towns,” Mr Loe said.

“Precedent Productions has been running the Australian Small Business Champion Awards since 1999 so we’re generally in tune with the country’s best-performing business operators.

“We created this standalone female-focused awards program because frankly, it’s high time for greater recognition of Australia’s female business trailblazers who still face unique challenges with incredible grit and positively infectious entrepreneurial spirit.”

The Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards saw thousands of entries this year and honoured the achievements of approximately 60 category winners from a broad cross-section of industries.

Four individual category winners were recognised at the red-carpet event, hosted by accomplished journalist and popular broadcaster, Deborah Knight.

• Topics:

• Local Business / Economy
• Awards