Australia’s first childcare loyalty rewards program – Nurch – has been globally recognised by winning two international business awards at the Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards.
The Stevie Awards – hailed as the world’s premier business awards – are an international business awards competition that are open to all organizations in the 29 nations of the Asia-Pacific region. The focus of the awards is on recognizing innovation in all its forms.
The 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards have recognized organizations in 22 markets including Australia, Belarus, Cambodia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Nigeria, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Vietnam. More than 900 nominations about innovative achievements in the 29-nation APAC region were considered by the judges this year in categories such as Award for Excellence in Innovation in Products & Services, Award for Innovative Management, and Award for Innovation in Corporate Websites, among many others.
Nurch Childcare Loyalty Rewards has won two awards in two categories – Gold winner of Most Innovative Startup of the Year – Business Service Industries and has Silver winner for Most Innovative Startup of the Year – Business Product Industries.
“I am over the moon to help facilitate Nurch Childcare Loyalty Rewards program to be recognized as the best new product, internationally,” says Kara Smyth co-founder at Nurch, “It is, even more, special because over 95% of our Nurch members are Australian women and I feel this award is for them, for believing and supporting our business idea – so thank you. Last but not least, this award is the result of our amazing Nurch team who work tirelessly towards the vision of making childcare more consistent for families through enrolment retention and rewarding them with perks for paying their fees.”
The judges of the silver category praised Nurch calling it a noble business bringing meaningful impact to a niche industry, and a sophisticated and holistic business plan to create learning journeys for children.
“A noble business with clear objectives bringing innovation to make a meaningful impact. Well done”, said an executive judge; other comments, “A sophisticated and holistic business plan to create learning journeys for children.”
A judge of the gold-winning category said, “Nurch works on a very niche space that is very critical in a child’s development. Some of the focus areas of Nurch – family engagement, employee welfare, flex benefits, efforts towards suicide prevention are highly relevant in current times, the importance of which is often understated”, says one of the judges who gave Nurch a near-perfect score, “The core business model, which is to engage childcare centres, increase their retention rates and improve penetration into the community are not disruptive innovations per se; however, Nurch does differentiate itself by also focusing on suicide prevention and other community-centric initiatives”.
The rewards program has recently come under fire being named a capitalist strategy, “The cynic in me sees this as a capitalist strategy that bribes people to choose a for-profit provider regardless of quality in order to receive discounts”, says an onlooker.
However, Steph, a mother of four boys, says that while her family expenses are considerable, the most important aspect of childcare is that her children are happy and in the right learning environment.
“I have three children attending AMAZE Gaven; We recently moved and have a childcare centre 15 minutes from our house but choose to drive 45 minutes each way so they can stay at AMAZE – the educators are like our extended family”, Steph says, “My husband and I earn full-time wages but daycare is a considerable expense, and while the CCS changes have helped, Nurch will help to cover the $450 we spend in groceries each week and never-ending clothes costs that come with having young boys”.
A recent survey of Nurch members indicates that 92% say their child’s care is the number one priority, however, see the value in the program. In fact, more than 80% of their members see the most value in Nurch when compared to leading loyalty programs such as FlyBuys, Myer One and Woolworths Rewards – which ranked the second-highest amongst members.
Over the past 12 months, Nurch has entered 12 business awards, placing or winning 67% of the entries.
Finalist
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Australian Small Business Champions – Specialised Services
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Women Leading Tech – Product
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AusMumpreneur – Digital Innovation
Winner
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Silver winner; Asia-Pacific Stevie®- Most Innovative Startup – Business Product
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Gold winner; Asia-Pacific Stevie®- Most Innovative Startup – Business Services
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Australian Achiever Awards – Computer Systems, Software & Internet Services
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Australian Achiever Awards – Childcare Services & Supplies
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Gold winner; International Women in Business Stevie®award – Best New Product or Service of the Year
Chintan is the Founder and Editor of Loyalty & Customers.
