12:00a.m. 27th August 2008

Olympic medals weren’t the only things being brought back to Australia after the Beijing Olympics.

A delegation of 12 Aussie small businesses had the opportunity to do some deals as part of a Win Business Gold in China competition run by Telstra and Austrade.

And for Sunshine Coast-based advertising and branding firm Six Degrees, the trip was worth its weight in gold.

Director Chris Dixon said one of the meetings he had arranged in Beijing with a very large Hong Kong-based firm could result in one of the biggest contracts Six Degrees has secured.

“The company we met has plans to launch five ski resorts in China, and we’re negotiating to handle the branding for eight food and beverage outlets at one of the resorts,” Mr Dixon said.

“It looks quite likely we’ll get the contract which would be incredible ... it’s a very, very big client.”

Mr Dixon said while he would handle most of the work from the company’s office at the Innovation Centre at Sippy Downs, it was likely Six Degrees would also need someone on the ground in Beijing.

He also said it was extremely unlikely the company would have had a chance to win the contract without the opportunity of a face-to-face meeting at the Olympics.

Mr Dixon said Six Degrees, which started with three employees working out of a home office three years ago, was about to employ its eighth staff member and now generated at least 50% of its revenue offshore.

The company is about to move out of the business incubator at the Innovation Centre into the adjoining $4 million business accelerator that was officially opened earlier this month.

The trip to Beijing wasn’t all business, however.

As well as a trip to the Great Wall, Mr Dixon and his wife were lucky enough to secure tickets to an exciting session of swimming finals at the Water Cube that saw Liesel Jones and Libby Trickett win silver medals.

“The Aussie supporters were a bit outnumbered by the US fans because Michael Phelps had two swims at the session we saw. But it was a great experience ... the whole city was in party mode,” he said.