BRALCA family duo Molong's Brooke and Ben Watts eye top titles for Western NSW Business Awards

It's where the Watts' family-owned farming empire BRALCA operates - the business title an acronym made up of three daughters' names, Brooke, Alyssa and Caitlyn.

But this time around, there's a main focus on two relatives in one big spotlight together.

Dad and daughter duo, Ben and Brooke Watts have each made their marks on the finalists list in the 2023 Business NSW awards.

Ben's vying for top spot in the Outstanding Business Leader category, while his trusty offsider and 23-year-old daughter, Brooke is gunning for the Outstanding Young Business Leader Award.

Though it's a first-time honour for one of them, with the Molong born-and-bred girl getting a well-earned shout-out for her hard work.

"It was a bit of shock seeing my name up there with some of the big-hitters, so it was a pretty nice feeling, especially after grinding away for 12 months," Brooke said.

"Our work keeps us busy, that's for sure, so to get a bit more recognition feels great; and it's a really good opportunity to have."

BRALCA is an agricultural research and development training business for farmers right across Australia, with statewide projects often sending the Watts crew on the road.

Their operations coordinator, Brooke currently oversees an education-based program, managing a whopping 60 schools on her books.

It was 16 months ago after a stint in corporate agriculture - and another gig in mining "just to throw that in there" - when Brooke got a phone call from her dad, asking her to come back to the family empire while it was ploughing ahead with business expansion.

Backed by her Bachelor in Business Management, she now coordinates 11 contractors while also managing a host of attached staff.

"Dad will say I'm a little bit too driven sometimes, I probably need to put the brakes on a bit," she said while laughing.

"But he'll also tell people 'she's a little bit unstoppable' at the same time, because he appreciates all of the support and has a lot of trust in the decisions I make. That's really empowering for me because I'm very career-focussed.

"And I've got a lot of crazy ideas that I'm busting to bring to life."

Those goals are all rooted in the betterment of future farming and positive growth across the ag-sector.

One idea really driving her is working on a new event to the Central West, forging ahead to bring hands-on rodeo and camp drafting clinics to the region.

"I want to do more junior development workshops to give young people some of the opportunities we didn't have out here growing up," Brooke said.

"I've started doing more contracts of my own as well, so I'm looking forward to steering in my own direction a little more this year."

The Outstanding Young Business Leader Award recognises business leaders up to the age of 35, who leave inspiration behind in their wake and dedicate themselves to their workplaces.

Brooke is joined by four other contenders, with two of those women from Orange - LillyRose Beauty's Jade Murray and SpiritAbility's Pamela Johnson.

Winners will be announced on June 23 at the 2023 Western NSW Business Awards Gala, which will be held in Orange at the Ex-Services' Club.

"It is fierce competition, especially as a young business leader in general, because there are so many people who want to do it," Brooke said.

"So when you start to go 'wow, I think I'm actually doing it, I think I've done something good here' it's just so rewarding."

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