The organisers of the oacdigital Online Achievement Award in the 2021 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards have announced the four finalists for the award, chosen based on their contributions to their respective communities.
The award recognises Victorian young achievers who have demonstrated not only success in the digital space but also creativity, innovation, agility, and has a keen interest in the online landscape.
The four finalists are:
- Adam Stone, 26, is the founder and CEO of Speedlancer, the world’s first platform that helps teams of freelancers collaborate. They have a patent-pending workflow technology that assembles teams of curated freelancers dynamically and automatically on the fly and have serviced over 1600 clients to date. Stone started an eCommerce website when he was 14 years old, which scaled to over 140,000 paying customers across 209 different countries. He won a six-figure contract with TELUS Canada, a top 500 Start-ups alumni, and was named on the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
- Ana Gavia, 28, is a self-taught entrepreneur behind Pinkcolada which rose from a small-scale hobby into a global eCommerce store that sells bikinis. Gavia was recently chosen as one of 20 American Express cardholders to receive 12 months of mentoring with Rare Birds as part of Amex’s Idea Exchange Program. Gavia has received mentoring from Shark Tank’s Andrew Banks and was awarded Business News Melbourne Young Entrepreneur Start-up Award. She has relied on a constant routine of learning and improving and free tools to grow her business from $200 to $1 million annually.
- Anita Miller, 24, established EverEvolving.Me, a blog and Instagram page where she shares insight on a range of topics including tech and finance. The site breaks down concepts into easy-to-digest formats, detailing Miller’s her experiences building a financial portfolio and starting her career in tech so that more women, particularly those from ethnically diverse background like herself, can follow in her footsteps.
- Tommy So, 27, helped develop a content distribution web app and launched a website project for Fortune 500 companies. So launched Senturis to help businesses stay COVID-safe and engage their customers. He also started a marketing agency, PRIMAL+, which provides design, content and marketing technology to start-ups and small businesses. He also serves as a mentor for students starting their careers in data science and digital marketing.
The finalists will be presented and winners announced at a gala dinner at Sofitel Melbourne On Collins on Friday 16 April 2021. Each category winner will receive a $2000 in prizes courtesy of Wheelton Philanthropy, Budget Rent A Car and Qoin, with one of the thirteen category winners to be chosen as the 2021 Victorian Young Achiever of the Year.
