Highest recognition for Bamaga’s community-owned enterprise and its star Indigenous manager
Bamaga Enterprises Ltd (BEL) took out a major award for providing exceptional community support at the Torres Strait & NPA Employment and Training Recognition Awards held on Thursday Island on 14 October.
Community Support Award for BEL
Celebrating its 10th year, the Torres Strait & NPA Employment and Training Recognition Awards is the Torres Strait’s highest recognition of people, businesses and organisations who strive for success, best practice and innovation in training, employment and community support.
After the awards ceremony held at the Tagai TAFE College, Chris Foord, General Manager of BEL, said he was proud to accept the award on behalf of the BEL directors and the entire BEL team.
“The objective of BEL, resulting from its commercial activities, is to support and develop the local Indigenous community and help people in necessitous circumstances,” said Mr Foord.
“Through its Socio Support Policy, BEL has returned to the community over $3 million in donations, sponsorships and community infrastructure. In this regard BEL is a role model in Indigenous business affairs and it’s an honour to be recognized with this award.”
BEL was the winner from a select group of 35 nominations for this year’s Awards.
Darlene Fell, President of the Torres Strait & NPA Employment and Training Recognition Awards 2021, said, “BEL’s nomination was of high quality and ticked all the boxes.”
Bewan Idai, BEL’s BP Bamaga Service Station manager, also took out the Inspirational Employee Award. This award recognises an employee who shows leadership, outstanding work performance and exhibits a desire to succeed. Mr Idai is a long-standing member of the BEL team who manages the organisation’s most profitable and busiest operation, which is open 365 days a year, employing up to 20 Indigenous staff members.
“The community is proud to see his hard work recognised. Among his many managerial responsibilities, Bewan ensures staff are well trained and enjoy their work, resulting in a good working environment,” said Mr Foord.
Bewan Idai attended the awards celebration with his wife, Layli, and said he had been pleased with the nomination.
“When my name was read out for the Inspirational Employee Award, I was pleasantly surprised and happy that I was able to win the award, especially with the number of nominations in my category and being the only one from Bamaga,” he said.
“The actual community demonstration of support has been great, especially with the amount of people coming into the BP and saying, ‘congratulations’, and I would like to say thank you for this, but the best thing about it all was being able to represent Bamaga.”