By Brad Howarth

They are young, smart and come from industries as diverse as IT, fashion and agriculture. We profile 30 hot young entrepreneurs aged 30 years and under

As the Australian economy starts to slow, many pundits are wondering how the latest generation of entrepreneurs will cope in the unfamiliar territory of an economic downturn.

It’s a tough question, but we wouldn’t mind betting they’ll survive and even thrive.

We’ve scoured the country to find 30 entrepreneurs aged 30 or less, and found an extremely talented bunch emerging from a broad range of market sectors, from beauty products and fashion to high technology and marketing services.

They have a wealth of ideas and many have very interesting personal backgrounds. But what they all have in common is energy and passion to back their ideas.

1 Robert Beerworth, 28 – Wiliam

Robert Beerworth was just 18 when he founded the web design, development and strategy business Wiliam (single “l”) in 1997. The business survived the dot-com crash of 2000 that saw many competitors fade from business, and revenue leapt 241% in the 2006-07 financial year. This year Beerworth hopes to expand his team from 65 to 80 people. Wiliam’s client list includes Yahoo!, Toshiba, Travelex, Channel 10, Singtel Optus and AAP, and the company has also branched out into Web 2.0 technologies.

2 Shaughla Ahmad, 29 – Swap My Style

Growing up with two sisters, Shaughla Ahmad learned to appreciate having a wide variety of clothes to choose from each day. That heritage was the foundation for Swap My Style, a business that brings women together to swap fashion items. The first event was held in Sydney in February this year, and from that small beginning Ahmad has built a base of 4000 members. She is planning an event in Melbourne at the end of May, with Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide to come.

3 Mike Cannon-Brookes, 28 & Scott Farquhar, 28 – Atlassian

Two superstars of the latest internet technology boom, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar’s company Atlassian has ridden the global wave of interest in technologies that help businesses better collaborate. By successfully using an online sales model, today more than 10,500 customers in 101 companies collaborate using Atlassian technology. The two founders picked up the Ernst & Young Australian Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2006.

4 Natalie Aroyan, 27 – Pink Hibiscus

Natalie Aroyan got her start as an entrepreneur making skincare products based on essential oils in her mother’s kitchen, and selling through her website and eBay. Early success enabled her to open her first tanning studio last year, and her products are now appearing on the shelves of Australian retailers. With her mobile tanning studio she’s earned the reputation of being Sydney’s “tanner to the stars”. Her client base expanded by 500% in the past year, and she has expanded the business into publicity services.

5 Sarah Sammon, 29 – Simply Rose Petals

Sarah Sammon spotted a niche market in supplying premium dried rose petals to the bridal industry. It’s proven to be a big niche. In this financial year the company has supplied products including innovative hand-held rose petal cannons to more than 1500 Australian brides, along with other celebrations. Simply Rose Petals is now exporting to 11 countries, and expects to grow its revenue by over 150% this year.

6 Brett Birkett, 28 – Interlex Solutions

Brett Birkett founded his business in 2005 to provide services and maintenance to small and medium business owners. Since then the company has been doubling its growth every year, and taken on larger clients including Nissan Australia, Benq and Micador. Birkett has bigger ambitions yet, and in 2007 co-founded another new business that aims to rival YouTube and social network sites such as Facebook.

7 Simon Blyth, 26 – LX Innovations

Simon Blyth’s business is better described as an idea factory. Among its inventions is a device that enables visually impaired people to detect objects in a similar way to how a bat does, while another monitors vehicles for signs of driver fatigue. A participant in the NSW Enterprise Workshop scheme, Blyth and his team have won awards from the Institute for Engineering and Technology and the Premier’s Award of Excellence.

8 Belinda Cordina, 28 – myinvites

Cordina’s business myinvites was born of the frustration that she experienced every time she wanted to plan an event and send out invitations. With a successful professional coaching business already under her belt, Cordina spent almost three years in planning and production before launching myinvites in October 2007. The site features 700 free invitation designs covering 50 occasions, along with full RSVP functions, reminders and thank-yous, and integration with Google Maps.

9 Jared Franks, 30 – Ioteq

Franks started his working life packing soft medical goods for his family business. Starting at the bottom gave him the perspective to start a consulting business writing business plans for entrepreneurs. In 2002, he became the first employee of the water disinfection technology company Ioteq, and by 2007 had risen to the role of CEO. He has since restructured the company and taken it into markets including Japan and the US.

10 Michael Rosenbaum, 25 – Deals Direct

Michael Rosenbaum has a modest goal – to make his company Deals Direct the number one Australian online retailer. By many accounts he is already there. Founded in October 2004, the company is reporting revenue of $24 million and more than 500,000 customers on its database, well on the way to Rosenbaum’s goal of one million customers by next year.