Social Entrepreneur Gains Top Honour
4 November 2013 at 10:54 am
The young social entrepreneur behind Thankyou Group has been named the Victorian Young Australian of the Year.
Daniel Flynn, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Thankyou Group, a social enterprise that funds life-changing projects in developing nations, was recognised for his efforts driving its growth.
Other Victorian Young Australian finalists were Luke Owens (a musician and advocate for homeless people), Benson Saulo (a youth representative) and Joel Taylor (a mental health advocate).
“It’s an honour to be put in a category with finalists of this calibre. When I look at the impressive achievements of each person, it’s safe to say I feel a little undeserving of this award,” Flynn, 25, said. 
Flynn founded Thankyou Water, a bottled water product that would fund safe water solutions overseas, at the age of 19.
To date, the business has assisted more than 60,000 people with safe water through over 100 projects across Cambodia, Uganda, Myanmar, Haiti, Timor Leste, Kenya, Burundi, India and Sri Lanka.
This year, Flynn lead the rebranding of the company to Thankyou and the introduction of two new ranges – Thankyou Food and Thankyou Body Care.
Flynn said his motivation for expanding the business was to increase the impact of Thankyou around the world.
“It’s a great feeling to go to work every day and know that what I’m doing is helping someone in need. Already we’ve been able to make a huge impact overseas through the support of Australians, but the reality is that there is still so much more work to be done,” he said.
“This is the reason I’ve got a passion to see Thankyou become a household name. At the end of the day, the more Australians who get behind what we’re doing, the more work we can do for people in need.”
Another Not for Profit leader taking a gong was Tim Conolon, founder of children’s charity TLC for kids. Conolan was awarded Victorian Local Hero 2014.
All Victorian winners will now go onto the national awards, which will be held on January 25, 2014 in Canberra.
