Winyama wins at Telstra Best of Business Awards 2023

PERTH, AUSTRALIA — March 24th, 2023  — Winyama, a leading geospatial and cloud consultancy founded by Ngarluma Traditional Owner, Andrew Dowding, has been announced as this year’s Business of the Year winner as well as the Indigenous Excellence category winner at the 2023 Telstra Best of Business Awards. These accolades are recognition of the organisation’s success in entrepreneurialism, innovation, and inspiring the next generation of Australians.

Hosted in Melbourne, the awards ceremony was attended by hundreds of small and medium business owners, employees and supporters from across Australia - who came together to celebrate the achievements of each category winner.

Winyama, founded in 2019, is one of few Indigenous-owned and operated geospatial and cloud consultancies in Australia offering a variety of services including; cultural mapping, heritage mapping, IT consulting, geospatial consulting and free mapping training through their social initiative, the Indigenous Mapping Workshop Australia. 

The organisation serves two purposes, firstly as a provider of geospatial location intelligence and digital solutions to Indigenous communities. Secondly as an enabler of young Indigenous talent seeking careers in technology.

In five short years Winyama has trained more than 1000 Indigenous people in geospatial mapping through their social initiative.

On accepting the Indigenous Excellence award Mr. Dowding said, “We see a growing digital sector in our communities. From Indigenous ranger programs to native title organisations the use of digital tools is accelerating. But it's crucial these indigenous led organisations have a firm grasp on the benefits of tools, how it helps assert sovereignty or encourages data governance.”

“I can't say thank you enough to the Telstra judges who had the difficult task of looking across all businesses - but then saw something special in our business. To look across the broad range of inspiring businesses and pick Winyama as the winner is truly humbling!”

Congratulating Winyama on their win, Telstra group executive Brad Whitcomb said, “They’re an incredibly deserving winner and we look forward to witnessing the evolution and growth of their business as they continue to undertake important work across the country.”