Winner Queensland Exporter 2009

Online, October 26, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Trade Minister Stephen Robertson has congratulated NOJA Power Switchgear, based at Murarrie in Brisbane's East, as the winner of the 2009 Queensland Exporter of the Year Award at the gala presentation of the 20th annual Premier of Queensland's Export Awards.

Mr Robertson said that NOJA Power Switchgear was an excellent example of a Queensland business that had found success through going global, and that he had already opened the company's new premises at Murarrie this week as part of Queensland Export Week activities.

"NOJA Power is a Queensland company of electrical engineers and contractors that research and develop, design, manufacture and supply low and medium voltage electrical switchgear," Mr Robertson said.

The company exports its products globally from its manufacturing headquarters in Brisbane and has products in service in 70 countries on every continent of the world.

"NOJA Power's products are used by electricity utility providers to increase the reliability of electricity supply. With the assistance of Trade Queensland, NOJA Power participated in a Trade Mission to Latin America in the first quarter of 2009 which resulted in new contracts of supply in 4 different countries.

"Drawing comparisons with the current NRL Premiers, NOJA can now legitimately claim to have won the top prize in both 2007 and 2009," Mr Robertson said.

Neil O'Sullivan, NOJA Power Switchgear's Managing Director, said that the company's first sale had been an export sale, and that it was proud moment to win the Queensland Exporter of the Year Award for a second time.

"Today more than 90% of our turnover is generated from export revenue and more than 80 jobs have been created in the company that can be directly attributed to our export success," Mr O'Sullivan said.

"A lot of the jobs created in NOJA Power are traineeships and we are particularly proud of the fact that our trainees have gone on to complete Diplomas and Degrees and now hold senior positions in the company.

"Queensland provides a tremendous platform from which to export particularly for technology based companies with the local engineering capability that exists in Queensland through the education systems that we have.
Our key export markets include Africa and the Middle East, Asia, China, Europe, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, Pacific/Oceania, the UK and Ireland," Mr O'Sullivan said.
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NOJA Power Switchgear, as a winner in the Large Advanced Manufacturer category of the Premier of Queensland's Export Awards, now progresses to the Australian Export Awards to be held in Canberra on 20 November.