Meet the Best Regional Startups finalists in the 2014 StartupSmart Awards

Launching a startup is never easy, and it’s even harder outside of a well-resourced capital city. These five startups are gaining ground and doing well regardless.

MBS Services Australia

This startup emerged for similar reasons to why we have this award. Founders Terry Baker and Wayne Wilkie realised the limited access to professional services was holding businesses back.

They turned their 40 years of professional building surveying work into a startup and help regional councils secure contracts and train staff.

As a small, nimble team they’re able to tailor the programs to each client, with each council facing different resourcing challenges.

She’s Empowered

Before She’s Empowered launched, pregnant women working in the construction, resources and transport industry struggled to find safe, high-vis gear that they could fit into and often had to resort to wearing male clothing with dangerous long or large sleeves.

Based in regional Queensland, founder Kym Clark created a range of appropriate maternity wear for the growing number of women employed in these industries.

Clark has sold over 300 shirts already and says she’s just getting started.

Screen Weaver

Video production startup Screen Weaver was set up to create product-centric videos for businesses can use to promote their wares.

The tech startup has clients all over Australia and even a few in New Zealand, with the team becoming very comfortable working online with people they’ve never met.

Based in Wollongong, founder Karen Pouye says the lower cost of rent and living is a commercial advantage.

Zeitgeist Production

Regional Victoria may seem an unlikely place for a music mastering tech startup to be based, but Zeitgeist Production is happily based in Dereel.

As a highly skilled, specialised service, the big challenge for these guys has been to let people know they exist, which they’ve done through a concerted video campaign on YouTube.

Founder Nicholas D’Ombrain agrees it was certainly been tough with only a primitive satellite internet connection, but adds the internet now connects small business starters to the entire world.

WebCred.it

Running a platform for web developers and designers to showcase their work and testimonials from Drysdale hasn’t been an issue for Webcred.it, who say they’ve used every available social network to grow both an Australian and international presence.

Founder Andrew Ballard says there has been almost no issue runing his business remotely, although he’s paid extra attention to making investors feel at ease quickly by tackling the topic head one.

It also allows him to efficiently manage batches of meetings rather than have them scattered throughout the week.