Awards spark community role

An overachieving Derby business may need a bigger trophy cabinet after going back-to-back at a recent State awards night, with the owners recognised for their commitment to the town.

Wattnow Electrical was announced as the winner of the community engagement gong at the WA Regional Small Business Awards earlier this month, an event where the company’s story truly began one year ago.

After a stellar 2016, husband-and-wife owners Jonathan Smith and Prue Plowright had the night of their lives when Wattnow was crowned last year’s best overall small business, after winning the Aboriginal business trophy moments earlier.

The couple decided to use the $25,000 GWN7 advertisement prize to expose Derby to regional WA viewers and created a four-minute video about the Kimberley town for the visitor centre.

The company also supported a range of programs, including the Derby Tigers Football Club, Shooting Stars Youth Netball Program and Derby races. Their contribution did not go unnoticed by judges and their nomination in the community engagement category at this year’s awards seemed inevitable, with their win the icing on the cake.

Ms Plowright said the couple were very excited to accept the gong.

“We have a lot of pride and passion for our little town Derby and love to see the positive effects that our business has on the community,” she said.

The category was sponsored by Arc Infrastructure and presented by maintenance delivery manager Daniel Bradtke.

Mr Bradtke said the electric company’s support of Derby organisations left a positive impact on the town.

“I congratulate Wattnow for truly exemplifying how regional businesses can work collaboratively to benefit their local community,” he said.

The business was automatically nominated for the overall award after their community engagement win, but the elite prize was taken out by Busselton’s Nudge Psychological Assessment & Consulting.