Learning she has been shortlisted for not one but two Telstra ACT Business Women’s Awards was “quite surreal” for personal trainer, uni student and entrepreneur Katie Geus.
The founder, director and chief taste tester of meal delivery business Fudie was at home with her partner when the phone call came to tell her she’d been listed alongside head of the Office of Health Protection Felicity McNeill, Jan Harris, who in 2013 was the first woman appointed Deputy Secretary of Treasury in the traditional male stronghold’s 112-year history and Professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington, a Rhodes Scholar and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic of Australian National University.
“It was just insane, we were sitting on the sofa looking at the other names and thinking, ‘We’ve got this little food business’,” she said.
Geus has been shortlisted in different categories to Harris, Hughes-Warrington and McNeill, of course, but come October 23 they will share the spotlight at the dinner to announce the ACT winners who will go on to compete in the national awards.
Geus is thrilled at what her shortlisting in the Young Business Woman and Start-Up categories means for Fudie.
“I really wasn’t expecting to make it this far,” she said, after explaining that the business she founded in March 2014 has taken two giant steps in just the past few days.
Fudie moved into new headquarters in the Realm precinct at Barton last week and this week commences deliveries for the first time through contractor Fastway. Until now, customers had collected their Fudie goodies from the Abbey in Nicholls, their previous base.
At this pivotal time for her business, Geus is reassessing everything, even the business name, which stands for Fresh, Unprocessed, Delicious, Inspiring and Easy.
She’s put her personal training clients on hold while finishing her final weeks at university and preparing for her wedding early next year, and can’t wait to focus 100 per cent on the business in 2016.
The next big acquisition for the business is a modified atmosphere packaging machine to ensure the meals stay fresh longer without freezing.
There are 19 finalists for the 2015 Telstra ACT Business Women’s Awards altogether.
Other finalists include former school teacher Jo Whithear who launched a specialised reading centre called Canberra Reading Clinic and is a council member of Learning Difficulties Australia and Linda Spurr, who is accountable for training and education at Airservices Australia as general manager of Airservices Learning Academy. She leads a workforce of 450, including 250 trainees.
The 19 finalists join TBWA Alumni including Department of Finance Deputy Secretary Jan Mason, CARE Australia Chief Executive Dr Julia Newton-Howes, and ACT Human Rights and Discrimination Commissioner Dr Helen Watchirs.
Finalists for the 2015 Telstra ACT Business Women’s Awards are:
Start-up Award
Katie Doherty Solution Solution
Katie Geus Fudie
Jessica May Enabled Employment
Claire Naidu Claire Naidu & Co Lawyers & Mediators
Joanna Richards Solution Solution
Entrepreneur
Nicole Damiani Farmers Daughter
Karen Porter Solace Creations Double Glazing
Jenni Tarrant Bond Hair Religion
Jo Whithear Canberra Reading Clinic
For Purpose and Social Enterprise
Philippa Moss AIDS Action Council of the ACT
Tara Taubenschlag Send Hope Not Flowers
Government and Academia
Jan Harris The Treasury
Marnie Hughes-Warrington Australian National University
Felicity McNeill Federal Department of Health
Linda Spurr Airservices Australia
Georgeina Whelan JHC, Department of Defence
Corporate and Private
Melanie Andrews CIC Australia Limited
Sue Levy Goodwin Aged Care Services
Sarah Valentine Raytheon Australia
Young Business Women’s Award
Katie Geus Fudie
Joanna Richards Solution Solution
The winners will be announced on Friday 23 October in Canberra. The ACT winners proceed to the national finals in Melbourne on 18 November 18. For more information or to make a nomination for the 2016 Awards, visit www.womensawards.com
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