The team at Catalyst Media (l-r) Justin Shield, Carey Young, Stephen Cameron and Bevan MollerSuccessfully competing against larger IT companies from Sydney and Melbourne for federally funded projects is a feather in the cap for Bundaberg's new media company, Catalyst Media, founded just 18 months ago with 2 CQU Bundaberg alumni leading the team.

In this short time the company has grown from 4 employees to 11 - 2 designers, a trainee designer, 5 web developers, a manager and reception staff.

Manager Bevan Moller said rapid growth has been promoted by gaining government contracts as well as strong development in the private sector.

"A lot of Sydney and Melbourne companies sat up and took notice when we won the contract for the North Burnett RRIF project - Regional Reduction Incentive Fund - a significant federally funded project," Mr Moller said.

"Everyone in Canberra that we've been dealing with has been really impressed with the work we've done - we were showcased by the minister of Tourism, Industry and Agriculture at the project's launch."

Catalyst Media budded from another well known local business InterWorX Technologies, and now employs 4 CQU Bundaberg graduates.

Mr Moller graduated from the IT degree 5 years ago and immediately landed on his feet with InterWorX.

"All 4 CQU graduates are local people, having been to school and uni in Bundaberg," he said.

"We provide a perfect example of how you don't necessarily have to be located with the big corporations in larger centres to be successful - a lot of our work comes from Sydney and Canberra."

Multimedia graduate and lead developer/photographer Stephen Cameron was another seeder of Catalyst Media - and an InterWorX employee from his first year out of high school.

"Being able to get to uni or to work in 15 minutes and being able to keep working while I was studying made it all pretty easy," said Mr Cameron.

"My studies were relevant to work therefore everything tied in well together.

"I was encouraged by boss to stay at work - CQU was one of few universities offering multimedia at the time," he said.

"I had intended to study IT, but realised during my gap year that I was more interested in the creative side of things rather than technical - both are interesting - multimedia provided a good mix."

Web developer Justin Shield was technical services manager at InterWorX until his current position became available at Catalyst Media when they scored a federally funded project.

Mr Shield focused on software engineering at university and was keen to remain in Bundaberg when he completed his studies.

He says it is vital for regional communities to retain their youth.

"If people like me and Carey [another CQU graduate] didn't stay in Bundaberg then Catalyst Media wouldn't have been able to deliver larger projects because they wouldn't have had the staff - there would be no local industry growth at all," he said.

"It is very difficult to attract experienced IT people to Bundaberg."

Web developer Carey Young had his job lined up when he completed school and continued to work throughout his studies.

"CQU Bundaberg saved me the trouble of moving to Brisbane and finding work and somewhere to live - I was able to concentrate more on study which was a huge benefit to me," he said.

Modest about his academic prowess, Mr Young was only 15 when he began his university studies.

"I moved from Sydney and found I could skip 2 years of school - CQU Bundaberg made the transition very easy," he said.

Catalyst Media provides web based software development - websites for businesses, web applications, [programs that run on the web, for example, applications that manage transactions between residents and councils and allows them to track transactions] -  in addition to marketing, photography, print work, graphic design, brochures, everything from business cards to billboards.