Well it’s that time of year again . . .Some of the country’s most innovative and visionary entrepreneurs were celebrated on Thursday 27 November at the 2008 Entrepreneur Of The Year awards. A panel of 11 independent judges had the difficult task of deciding the five category winners out of 25 national finalists from around Australia. The category winners chosen were a diverse group of business leaders.

Of most interest to us at Brainfruits is the Entrepreneur of the Year in the Social (marketing) category which went to Adam Garone of the The Movember Foundation.

Adam, a former Australian Army Captain, Melbourne Business School graduate and e-commerce project manager risked everything he had financially to launch the charity. Adam felt he was at an age where he wanted to give something back through a charity. He had made small donations before but found this largely unsatisfying.

The idea behind the ‘Movember’ concept is highly original; to resurrect the moustache, or ‘Mo’, as the ‘pink ribbon’ to raise awareness and funding for men’s health. All proceeds raised are donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Beyondblue, the national depression initiative. Prior to Movember, no one had successfully marketed prostate cancer as a campaign initiative, with the majority of focus on women’s health causes, primarily breast cancer. Statistically as many men in Australia die from prostate cancer as women die from breast cancer.

The Movember Foundation promotes the philosophy that “Every Mo Bro counts”. In Australia, the number of ‘Mo Bros’ has grown from 30 in 2003 to 100,000 in 2007, with over $15 million raised to date. In 2007, global expansion of Movember raised over A$5.5 million with 37,000 men in other countries participating.

In four short years, Movember, has quickly become a global initiative, relying on the smart use of new technology, innovative marketing and low cost-to-funding rations to deliver tangible outcomes for men’s health causes.

You can check out the website here