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WA Business News’ annual Rising Stars awards highlight the entrepreneurial flair in the state’s business community.

The winners of the 2011 Rising Stars awards illustrate the diversity and enormous opportunity for private businesses in WA.

THE common perception of the resources sector may be one of hum drum processes such as digging and drilling, but Belmont oil and gas services business Velocious proves that there are plenty of intellectual challenges in this sector for local players who p

PRIVATE equity group Archer Capital has emerged rapidly this year to become one of the largest investors in Western Australia, following its purchase of the company behind the Chicken Treat and Red Rooster fast food chains.

WHILE many businesses in the west are bracing for the economically stifling impact of impending skills shortages, Skill Hire chief executive Stephen Edgar sees opportunity.

LOCAL industrial giant Wesfarmers’ move to commit $45 million to further develop its plans for a massive upgrade of its ammonium nitrate plant at Kwinana further muddies the waters surrounding the future of Western Australia’s fast-growing explosives mark

STANDING out from the crowd in a busy marketplace such as recruitment is sometimes as much about what you don’t do as it is about what you do.

After just three months in the top job, Metropolitan Cemeteries Board chief executive Peter Deague is quietly confident the board will secure land from the state government to develop at least three new cemeteries in the metropolitan area to meet demand f

THE flexibility to refine his business plan after initial setbacks has delivered Adam Lamond a thriving operation that provides engineering, maintenance and industrial services to the likes of BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group.

A NEW library and public plaza at Cathedral Square and an injection of funding to complete the Forrest Square redevelopment have highlighted the City of Perth’s $80 million capital works budget, which was passed by the council last week.

THE solar retailer business can be risky, with changes to government subsidies and rebates altering the ebb and flow of the market, but Sun Connect hasn’t let this reality dominate its strategy.

Catalpa Resources will buy Conquest Mining to form a $1.1 billion growth-focused gold miner, in which gold giant Newcrest Mining will hold a one-third stake.

Bad news for the meat and wine industries is masking a minor miracle in the Wheatbelt where high commodity prices are breathing new life into near-dead towns.

West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says there's no reason the live cattle trade to Indonesia cannot resume immediately to existing abattoirs that meet Australian standards.

The state government has allocated an unprecedented $8.93 million in recreational boating facilities grants.

Western Australian shipbuilder Austal has been chosen as preferred tenderer to build eight new patrol boats for Customs and Border Protection.

While the public spotlight on the offshore ill treatment of animals bred for slaughter is commendable, why does the RSPCA shirk such action when it comes to our own backyards, literally?

Gourmet breakfasts featuring steak and black pudding are among Ryan Taylor’s latest creations at his fine-dining restaurant, the Quarter on Hay. Carolyn Herbert reports.

Canberra’s bureau­cratic double-handling is costing all the states too much.

With many in business believing the Fair Work Act has given unions too much bargaining power, the CCI has come up with an industrial relations plan of its own.

The iron ore sector illustrates the profound impact technology and innovation can have on ‘old’ industries.

China has become too cheap and too expensive at the same time – and something has to give.

Opinion on the carbon and mining taxes vary, and depend on how one views ‘reform’.

Colin Barnett’s Liberal-National team increasingly looks like a government unable to make the big decisions.

Silver Lake Resources and Regis Resources are in the vanguard of a revival in the state’s gold industry.

The high Australian dollar is generally considered bad news for business, but some of the recent evidence suggests it is not that simple.

BANKS and risk management groups say the Australian dollar’s volatility makes it a good time for businesses to start using hedging instruments to protect against foreign exchange risk.

Liquor licensing is a contentious issue in Western Australia, with alcohol-fuelled violence, cultural advancement, the development of a strong tourism industry and management of the public interest influencing decisions.

INVESTORS have been on a spending spree in Perth’s city office market in 2011, buying more than $180 million worth of properties in the first few months of the year.

Demand for large-scale industrial sites is driving the construction of purpose-built developments in the otherwise flat industrial property market.

A BID by the Barnett government to redress the age-old power imbalance between retail tenants and their landlords may force shopping centre owners to reveal the intricate details of their lease agreements.

PAUL Symons could never have predicted the tangent his life would take when he left his job as a high school teacher in 1998 to start Malaga-based company PC Locs.