Commercial Small Business Award

Winner: Interconnected Pty Ltd

Ms Lina Jabbour of Interconnected, Winner of the Multicultural Marketing Awards Small Business Category, with Mr Loc Trinh, Director Access and Diversity Unit, Australian Taxation Office

The Sydney company, Interconnected Pty Ltd, which trades as Flat Friends, produces a range of educational toys designed to help children identify with the country and culture that the puppet represents to tell a story about their life in their city and country. The story is told in the voice of a child and is about family life, school life, festivities and food.

According to the company’s submission for the National Multicultural Marketing awards their aim is: “to help children become comfortable with whom they are, to understand and know what life is like for children in other countries, and from this, to love and respect other cultures”.

Flat Friends’ hope is to reduce racial conflict and to create a more tolerant and caring society and environment by empowering children with knowledge. The company is now spreading its Australian message of harmony to other countries. They are already exporting to Britain and have had success at number of international trade shows including the Germany International Toy Fair.

The Chair of the CRC, Stepan Kerkyasharian, said tonight: ‘These are unique products which reflect our unique society and which will surely spread our success in establishing community harmony around the globe” he said.