Jeremy Blanch - JNC Group
Jeremy Blanch, winner of the Indigenous In Business Award with Prime Minister Scott Morrison
The Ethnic Business Awards are Australia’s longest running and most prestigious business awards program. For more than three decades these awards have highlighted the myriad of benefits that cultural diversity and multiculturism brings to our nation, including the rich heritage of our First Australians, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Joseph Assaf, the founder of this incredible foundation, is a migrant himself. He has been dubbed the “father of multiculturism” and has been applauded and lauded for his work and the recognition he has brought to the achievements of migrant and Indigenous business men and women in Australia.
Each year the Ethnic Business Awards shines a light on the stories of inspiration of our finalists. Here is the story of one such person, Jeremy Blanch of JNC Group.
The EBA foundation was honoured to present Mr. Jeremy Blanch with the prestigious ‘Indigenous in Business’ category award at the 2018 annual award ceremony held in Sydney. Jeremy is the owner and founder of JNC Group Australia, a property and real estate development firm. He is a proud Anaiwan Indigenous man from the Uralla area of northern New South Wales. JNC Group is a majority Indigenous company which Jeremy founded along with his wife in 2010.
Jeremy traces his journey of starting his own business to his early years of life, as a young child. He comes from a loving home and parents who he considers to be inspirational mentors to him throughout his life. Growing up, Jeremy and his family used to move around a lot, depending on where his parents were able to find work. He spent a huge chunk of his life in a caravan, “living the life of a gypsy” as he describes it. He saw his parents work hard and overcome challenges, which played a defining role in his success as a businessman. His parents eventually went on to run a successful business called Bricon, which Jeremy joined as soon as he completed his studies. Jeremy was also very interested in the stock market, and by 2007, had made over a $1 million. He started learning more about running a business from his father and saw a successful future in taking over the business and living a comfortable life in his hometown.
Jeremy’s plans took a drastic turn when the global financial crisis of 2008 hit. Many companies in Australia were harshly affected, and Bricon was no exception. Jeremy’s father sold all his shares and Jeremy lost all the money he had invested in the stock market. This event truly changed the whole trajectory of Jeremy’s life. “In hindsight, this was one of the best things that could have happened to me.” Jeremy worked hard as a contractor for many years, then he went on to form smaller family partnerships. Eventually, because of his determination, drive, and resilience, he started winning projects from the government. And thus came the formation of JNC Group Australia, a few years later.
JNC Group has undertaken projects in remote and smaller regions such as Darwin, Katherine and Alice Springs as well as major capital cities like Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide. Originally, Jeremy and his wife were the only people working for JNC, but in 2011 Jeremy hired their first employee. The company now employs 30 full time staff and engages with over 100 people to conduct its activities at any one time.
Jeremy dedicates his company’s success to his people, his family-centric cultures and values, and the company’s strategy of early adoption of technology. “The diverse group of people who make up the team have enriched the business by giving so much and contributing their unique perspectives” says Jeremy.
On his management style for his people, Jeremy adds, “My unique approach to people management is a response to my experiences at school, where well-intentioned teachers typically focused on our weaknesses – to improve those perceived failings. Instead, I concentrate on people’s strengths. People can flourish in a whole range of situations if they focus on those strengths. My role is to help nurture their strong points and position each and every employee to succeed.”
Jeremy places high importance on being early adopters of technology as well. He has been transforming their workplace to be as efficient as possible with the help of early implementation of machine control on their major equipment, updating their systems and processes etc. The biggest benefit earned from this is how much the clients are positively affected by it.
On winning this EBA award, Jeremy Blanch commented, “JNC Group are thrilled and honored to be recognised at this national level. We truly believe diversity empowers, and our people are our strength, indeed this is our mission statement. The commitment and compassion from the entire JNC Group community makes us who we are. I’m incredibly proud of the JNC Group family and our achievements”.
What an inspiration the amazing Jeremy is, and it was an honour that JNC Group nominated for the awards.
Every year we seek out similarly inspirational stories. Sometimes the business is in its infancy, so we recommend they track along for a few years before they begin the nomination process. There is zero cost involved in nominating and we are always happy when nominees try to be selected for consecutive years. We understand that the EBA is only able to bring twelve fantastic stories each year to the stage, so my advice to you is to never give up. We have many examples of finalists who were only successful after trying for a couple of years to be selected. The most important thing is that we hear these stories. And through our media partners we can beam them into the lounge rooms of Australians everywhere. In fact, they go all over the world as last year we pioneered a Facebook live broadcast and it was seen by 70,000 + viewers. This just shows there is a huge appetite for true stories of excellence.