Shipbuilding, fashion design, education and mining are the tools of trade behind this year’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Western Region award winners.

Mark Newbold of Strategic Marine, Rod Jones of Navitas Limited, Torsten Ketelsen of GMA Garnet Group and Richard Poulson and Kylie Radford of Morrison were named the region’s best entrepreneurs at an awards dinner in Perth last night.

Ernst & Young Western Australia Regional Managing Partner Jeff Dowling says the winners are talented people who have excelled at growing and sustaining market-leading businesses in the region and beyond.

“Our Western Region Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year winners highlight the achievements and innovation of our business community and show just what can be achieved with hard work, perseverance and ingenuity,” says Dowling.

“All together, the 17 Western Region finalists in the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program employ 3,396 people and have combined turnover of $602 million, making a significant contribution to the WA economy.”

The winners will go on to compete for the 2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year national award in Sydney on 27 November 2008.

Mark Newbold, Strategic Marine (Products)

Mark Newbold established Strategic Marine in 2001 with a goal to build a global shipbuilding company with manufacturing operations across the world. Seven years later he is close to achieving that dream, with the company’s shipyards employing nearly 1,500 staff in Singapore, Vietnam, Mexico and Western Australia. In the past year alone Strategic Marine has had more than 125 orders worth more than US$210 million with plans to further develop the business and expand into the European market.

Rod Jones, Navitas Limited (Services)

Rod Jones first identified an opportunity for an educational services business for international students in the mid-1990s. Thirteen years later and that idea has become reality with Navitas, Australia’s largest provider of university pathway education and English language programs. Navitas teaches more than 32,000 international students each year in Australia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Zambia, Canada, United Kingdom and Indonesia with plans to expand to more countries. With an ongoing contract with the Australian Government, 25% of all new migrants to Australia participate in Navitas’ language education and cultural adjustment programs.

Torsten Ketelsen, GMA Garnet Group (Technology and Emerging Industries)

Founder and Managing Director of the GMA Garnet Group Torsten Ketelsen has transformed what was a previously questionable mineral deposit with little local or international demand, into a profitable mining, processing and global distribution business. Today GMA Garnet Group supplies more than half the world’s garnet abrasive materials. In true entrepreneurial style Torsten has also pioneered recycling technology and re-processing facilities to allow the products to be re-used more than five times.

Richard Poulson and Kylie Radford, Morrison (Young Entrepreneur)

The two young founders of clothing design business Morrison, Richard Poulson and Kylie Radford, had a vision for a modern store, filled with throngs of delighted customers, wearing the dynamic duo’s own designs and buying exciting merchandise. That was 2002 and five years later Morrison has turned into a ‘boutique’ Australian made women’s clothing range with five concept stores across Australia.

Jenny Allen, Youth Focus Inc (Social Entrepreneur)

Youth Focus assists young people showing early signs of suicide and depression. When Jenny Allen joined Youth Focus as CEO in 2000, money was tight, corporate and government funding was almost non-existing and the charity needed a fresh direction. In the past eight years Jenny has raised the community profile of Youth Focus, increased fundraising, increased counselling staff numbers and thus clients they can support, and expanded the charity into rural and regional areas of WA. As a result Youth Focus has supported more than 3,000 young people and 620 families across WA in the past eight years with plans to more than triple this number over the next seven years.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program

Since Ernst & Young’s global program started in Australia in 2001, over 800 leading Australian entrepreneurs have been recognised for their entrepreneurial spirit. Entrants are assessed by a leading panel of independent judges on their innovation, integrity, influence, strategic direction and national/global impact. Their relationships with their local communities are also taken into account.

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year is one of the leading business awards programs in Australia and the only program of its kind with an international platform. Founded and produced by Ernst & Young, and launched in Australia in 2001, it celebrates entrepreneurs who build and lead successful businesses. The international recognition of the awards positions finalists and winners as world-class entrepreneurs and provides a benchmark for entrepreneurial excellence.

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program is conducted across five regions with these winners progressing to the national awards ceremony in November. In total across the nation, there are 83 entrepreneurs in this year’s awards. Independent judging panels drawn from a broad range of successful Australian businesses assess the entrepreneurs on their innovation, integrity, influence, strategic direction, and national or global impact.

The Australian Entrepreneur of the Year is invited to represent Australia at the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year held annually in June in Monte Carlo. Former Australian winners have included Peter Farrell of ResMed Limited (2001), John Rothwell AO of Austal Limited (2002), David Bussau AM of Opportunity International (2003), Robert Gerard AO of Gerard Corporation (2004), Tony D’Antonio and Peter Hosking of Global Machinery Company Worldwide (2005), Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar of Atlassian (2006) and Shane Yeend of Imagination (2007).

The program was first established in the US in 1986. Entrepreneur of the Year winners outside of Australia include Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems (1987), Michael Dell of Dell Computer (1989), Howard Schultz of Starbucks (1991), Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (1997), Eddie Jordan of Jordan Grand Prix (2000), Narayana Murthy of Infosys Technologies (2003), Wayne Huizenga of Blockbuster Entertainment (2005), Guy Laliberte of Cirque du Soleil (2007) and Dr Jean-Paul Clozel of Actelion (2008).

In Australia the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year program is sponsored by Westpac Business Banking, Qantas and supported by the Federal Government through Austrade.