Dynamic NDIS provider, Sunrise2Sunrise were the winners of the 2024/25 Established Family Business Award for Victoria and Tasmania. The award was accepted by Ravi Bhatt alongside his wife, Krishna Sevak and their two children, Rhythm Bhatt (11 years) and Jaynil Bhatt (9 years old). Ravi and Krishna sat down with us to share more about the success story of Sunrise2Sunrise since its inception in 2018. The business has grown exponentially since, but the family has never wavered from its dedication to reducing inequality and improving lives in communities they support.
Tell us about your family business.
We’re a dynamic and innovative Registered NDIS, Child Youth and Family, and registered TAC provider, who offer support to people living with a disability. We take this support one step further, empowering participants to learn new skills and build self-esteem, and helping them create a higher level of confidence for themselves.
Our motto and underpinning deliverable is ‘Care when you need it, how you want it.’ It’s also important for fun to always come first. We have personalised the professional services usually only provided by larger corporate Disability Support organisations and this is what makes our work a standout.
What has been your greatest success?
We’ve grown the business from just ourselves to over 700 employees; we help 350+ participants within Victoria (also offering support to their families); we also have 39 accommodation homes, which caters for people of all ages and varying disabilities.
We were awarded a Boosting the Local Care Workforce Program grant in 2020 to employ more people in South-East Victoria, and expand on our service offering in the region. And of course, the 2024 Family Business Association Established Family Business Award for VIC/TAS – a huge feat.
Yet despite all these things reflecting great business success, our greatest success is how our participants have felt included, valued and appreciated for who they are, and how they’ve been able to achieve their full potential.
What do you value about being a part of FBA?
We value FBA for its commitment to celebrating the contribution the family business sector makes, and its recognition of how family ownership helps businesses achieve competitive advantage. We value the access our membership provides to a community of like-minded family business owners, who know exactly what we’re experiencing. And that we can easily reach out to experts and business owners from whom we can learn, grow and thrive.
What advice would you give to other family businesses?
Always apply your family values to your business, and champion a healthy work/life balance for yourselves and your staff. For example, our family values of Respect and Recognition, Determination, Knowledge, Community and Professionalism unpin everything Sunrise2Sunrise does and are embedded in our business strategy.
You also need to regard your staff as human beings (not just employees), your customers as individuals (not just statistics), and see yourselves as people (not just business owners). Learn to lead, not just manage, so others may learn from you.
You should also ensure you have some sort of succession plan in place if you wish to keep the business in the family. Educate your children/your family’s next generation workforce on the work you do and why you do it so they can keep the family business legacy alive. And ensure you as a family and the employees are celebrating all the small wins.
And remember, it's never too late to learn. Keep developing, growing, and find yourself a great network of like-minded peers with whom to connect, to share knowledge and information that will aid your success. Join Family Business Association! And leverage all they have to offer in this space.
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