Nina Nguyen, founder and CEO of Australian cardboard manufacturing company Pakko, has won the Multicultural Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Awards for Business.
Nguyen accepted her Award at the Gala dinner hosted by Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner on Friday, 11 November at Brisbane City Hall.
“This Award is symbolic of our whole multicultural business community here in Brisbane and a celebration of what diverse communities can bring to the local economy,” said Nguyen.
“As a business owner of Vietnamese heritage, I hope to inspire and encourage new arrivals to seek out the opportunities we have in Brisbane and to follow their dreams.”
Nguyen began her journey with Pakko in 2017 with a vision to create custom packaging solutions with no minimum order quantities and lead times of 10-12 working days.
Today, the team at Pakko has grown to more than 25 individuals from multicultural backgrounds who have adopted and embraced the box life.
Looking to the future, Nguyen hopes that her story will help to drive consumer confidence in supporting local manufacturing.
“I would like to thank the Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Awards for recognising the contribution of our multicultural businesses here in Brisbane, and I am so proud to be part of this thriving economic hub,” added Nguyen.
In front of more than 480 multicultural business leaders, Schrinner praised the calibre of this year’s Award recipients and their contributions to Brisbane’s economy.
“This year’s winners are an inspiration to emerging entrepreneurs and I’m honoured to formally recognise their exceptional talent, innovation and successes,” he said.
On top of all those recognised on the night, over 40 recipients were also accepted for the 2022 Lord Mayor’s Multicultural Scholarship Program.
Nguyen also recently was awarded the national 2022 Telstra Best of Business Progressing Australia Award for Pakko, which recognised her commitment to creating a blueprint for a manufacturing renaissance in Australia.
