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In the year that was in its inaugural Australian Make It Awards for the benefit the work of Australian entrepreneurs, creators, as well as small-scale businesses. The Make It Awards come from 's roots: In 2003 its the CEO Anthony Casalena founded the company with a $30,000 loan that was used to buy the first servers.

The Make It Awards, we're helping Australia's Australian business community by providing three new businesses by providing a $30,000 grant to further their goal. The winners were selected out of more than 2,500 applications, based on their business strategy, innovation, benefit to their community, as well as branding and style. Meet Reef Design Lab, Lousy Ink, and The Difference Three mission-driven companies that are committed to sustainability and community involvement.

    Reef Design Lab

Reef Design Lab is a multidisciplinary design company that develops marine habitat structures. The structures they design support research into how to restore and preserve the biodiversity of coastal and marine environments. Reef Design Lab works with architects, builders, governments, and research institutions, as well as marine scientists in multiple areas including coastal protection, eco-engineering of marine infrastructure, and coral farming.

Reef Design Lab plans to utilize its grant funds to enhance in-house technology and speed up process of developing products.

    Lousy Ink

The company was founded by two artists. Lousy Ink recycles printer cartridge ink to create a variety of art supplies that are sustainable, such as recycled pens and ink. It works with Australian collaborators to acquire the materials, reuse them, or recycle old and used cartridges inkjet. Lousy Ink's aim is to transform waste into a creative resource, as well as support the environment and the art community by encouraging more environmentally sustainable practices in creative expression.

Lousy Ink plans to use its grant to design various color inks that include cyan, magenta, yellow, as well as black.

    The difference

The Difference was the first mobile app that's available in Australia that lets users make virtual extra change from their transactions and give it away to causes that they're committed to. The Difference utilizes technology to allow any individual to make a contribution to sustainable global change through simple daily actions and microdonations.

The Difference plans to use its grant to expand its offerings in technical areas and help its Make Change campaign.