The company constructing a signature educational development in Shepparton has been named Regional Business of the Year at the Victorian Aboriginal Business Awards for a third successive year.
Wodonga-based commercial construction, project management and procurement company TVN On-Country is currently working on the $30 million Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence in Shepparton.
The Indigenous-owned and operated business was recognised at the Victorian Aboriginal Business Awards 2023 hosted by Kinaway Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne.
Managing director and proud Wiradjuri man Jebb Hutchison said 2023 had been the busiest and most rewarding in the company’s six-year history.
“At the beginning of 2023, we started work on our largest project to date, the Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence, on Yorta Yorta Country in Shepparton,” he said.
“This project really excites me because we are building a piece of history for ‘mob’.
“The MCRE, once it’s completed next year, will be a state-of-the-art Aboriginal-led educational, sporting, cultural and community centre.”
Winning the MCRE project, which is funded by the Victorian Government and Melbourne University, has seen the company expand to employ more than 50 staff, with 25 per cent of the workforce being First Nations people.
From its regional headquarters, TVN On-Country manages commercial construction projects in three states and has offices in Melbourne and Adelaide.
“It is fitting that this year’s Kinaway awards theme is growth, as that’s exactly what we have experienced, at a rapid rate,” Mr Hutchison said.
“I look back and think, how have we, three boys from the bush just having a go, come to be up on a stage in front of all these people at an awards night in Melbourne?”
Mr Hutchison set up TVN On-Country in 2017 with Jon Whelan and Gareth VanNoort.
“Gareth and I were mates at school in red dirt country up around Hillston, NSW. We set up in the rumpus room at Gareth’s brother’s house in West Albury,” Mr Hutchison said.
The company’s largest client is the Australian Defence Force, and many of TVN On-Country’s employees are Defence veterans.
Almost a third of the company’s team is female, above the construction industry average of around 14 per cent.
The company said it was also looking to the future by nurturing a pipeline of Indigenous talent through the launch in 2022 of On-Country Pathways, a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity.
It provides pathways into employment and careers in the construction industry and related trades for First Nations youth.
The Victorian Aboriginal Business Awards celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business excellence and instil pride within the Indigenous community while recognising the role business ownership plays in intergenerational wealth and success.