When gym owner Marco Renai was asked to turn around the lives of 10 youth offenders in 2010 his first instinct was to get them to do push-ups.Mr Renai established Men of Business Academy which trains at-risk boysWhen the fitness enthusiast discovered that push-ups alone were not enough to help the boys he set about founding the Men of Business Academy in 2020.
"We've taken boys who were disengaged from education, had no futures, who had been torn down," Mr Renai said. Mr Renai said the academy ran by his Italian principles of family, food, and working towards the collective good. "There's music playing, there's a barber in there, there's breakfast and lunch served. We do take-home meals for individuals who don't have food at home."Other Queenslanders of the year include 2024 Local Hero David Elliott, who accidentally stumbled across a dinosaur fossil during a routine sheep muster.