Events 720 are on top of the world and had plenty of reasons to smile, as they took out the Melton Business of the Year Award at the MBEA 2021 Gala Dinner at Tabcorp Park on Thursday night.

Varcon Group’s Managing Director, Michael Ahmet says he “grew up in a wheelbarrow”, playing in brick sand and watching his dad working on construction sites.

Upon moving to Melbourne, Rajesh opened his first restaurant on Lygon Street in 1998, the first Indian restaurant in Carlton.  Since then, he says, he has been extremely fortunate to operate eight successful restaurants. Melton’s Ginger Club is his lucky ninth.

What Tess Makes is the result of combining love for writing, making cards, and personalising gifts with art, design and colour. “Tita Tess” has always been interested in creating something beautiful and meaningful out of nothing.

Bloom Entertainment by Design is a boutique entertainment agency representing Melbourne based entertainers. The difference, says business head Michelle Schembri-Lipscombe, is that each of Bloom’s entertainers is hand-picked.

After successfully completing Diploma in Building Design, Bachelor’s in Architecture, and a Master’s in Architecture, Harsh Sachdeva worked on various projects including The Ritz Carlton, currently under construction in Melbourne CBD.

For the past 60 years the Harrison family has owned a growing range of automotive businesses in our city. Grant Harrison - eldest son of Keith and Joan - is the Dealer Principal of the jewel in the Harrison crown, Melton Toyota.

When Melton home-based kitchen, Hou Mei Homemade began trading late last year, it was the culmination of a dream stretching back decades for owners Carmen and Bong.

Greater Western Water is well-placed to service Melbourne’s fast-growing outer west, CBD, inner west and regional areas, providing better service, more secure water supply and reduced household water bills into the future.

Adrian Sposato began his career in real estate in 2012 after spending 10 years in the hospitality sector. Adrian says, looking back, hospitality was where he developed strong customer service skills and had the chance to hone his business expertise.

Kombi for a Cause Melton is a newcomer to the Melton business scene, having just clocked up their third month of operation. The owners had originally planned to ease into their new business slowly, but things changed with a Facebook recommendation and continued to grow from there.

Buddy’s Bakery is a Melton institution and now there’s even more reasons to visit following their recent wins in the Australia’s Best Pie and Pastie Competition. Taking out First Place for their Chunky Plain Beef Pie and Vegetarian Pastie, Buddy’s Bakery also received a wide range of Silver and Bronze Awards for their flavoured beef and poultry pies.

In our final instalment of the Conquering the Crisis video series we speak to Bargain Box Fabric’s Susan Robertson.

The business is an institution in Melton and Susan has owned it since the grand opening in 1995 .

Moui is all about supporting our local farmers in Niue and exporting their taros and local crops to Australia.  

After moving to Melton in 2010, Pearl was unable to source Taro locally, driving 1.5hrs to source a product that she felt was inferior quality. And so the idea of importing and selling Talo Niue (taro) was born. After researching and planning for five years, Moui Produce was launched in June 2020. 

Local entrepreneur Anthony Herrera has had some big changes in his life, migrating to Australia and then opening not one but two businesses.

But this quiet achiever is fine example of hard work and keeping the faith.

Meet Kristina Angelkovski, owner of Trademark Promotions.

Kristina’s journey began 15 years ago as a brand representative of an apparel company, travelling across Australia and New Zealand, selling trending fashion collections to large retailers.

Round Rock Group is offering three different experiences in one venue – Round Rock Taphouse, Winery and Receptions.

Meet Shveta Sharma, Owner/Operator of Kool Kidz Ravenhall.

After over a decade of hard work and perseverance, Shveta achieved her goal of establishing a childcare centre which provides the highest quality care and services to children in the most formative years of their lives.

“I love to entertain and I had made grazing tables for family functions, and then I did a grazing table for a friend’s 50th. People said, ‘you should to it’, so I did.”

That’s what lead Michelle Bailey to kick off local grazing platter service, ‘Graze with Michelle’.

Samanthra Govender set up Alpha Learning to offer inclusive education for children from all backgrounds and cultures.

Samanthra closed her face-to face-business during the early stages of COVID, and reopened by moving to online learning.