For the third year in South Australia, Community Corporate, in a partnership with the City of Adelaide, and South Australian settlement partners Multicultural Youth SA and Australian Migrant Resource Centre, hosted the South Australia Migrant Small Business Expo by providing a jam-packed program featuring key note presentations, expert panels, and networking.
But at the heart of the expo is the exhibition, where delegates, including aspiring and existing migrant business owners, can access free advice, information and support from government, corporate and community organisations to pursue and realise their business dream here in Australia.
It cannot be underestimated how valuable the time, resources and expertise from our exhibitors truly played in supporting this event, and more importantly the business aspirations of the some 150 people who walked through the door.
An email I received on Tuesday from one of our delegates said
“Thank you so much for running this event, I learnt so much and think your speakers were amazing and the advisers on the stands really took time to help me and explain what I have to do. I have walked away knowing I can do this and want to get my business going, I now know where to start, who to talk too and I just wanted you to know that like you said on stage, you hoped to have changed at least one person’s life, well you have, you changed mine, thank you so much!!! Please run this event again I will be telling everyone it was excellent!” (Aspiring business owner from India)
I want to personally and sincerely acknowledge the generosity of our corporate partners and exhibitors, who have shown a genuine commitment to supporting diversity and inclusion. They are leading by example as corporate social responsibility champions – who I urge you all to support. Without them, opportunities for migrants are limited due to the lack of support networks and the lack of a meaningful platform where they can access expert guidance and engage in intimate conversations to seek technical and professional advice.
In particular, I want to thank and recognise the following corporate partners whose contribution and commitment made the event possible:
- Belle Property Adelaide City
- NDA Law
- WebEdge Marketing
- Katron Creative
- Bespoke HR
- Spotless
- Epicure
- Scene Change
- Wilkingroup, and
- Financial Prospects
Additionally, I want to thank the government and community organisations who also gave up their time to show their commitment to supporting migrant business endeavours, and demonstrated confidence in our migrant communities and the pivotal role they play in building small business and creating jobs for our state’s economic prosperity:
- Enterprise Adelaide
- Department of State Development
- Department of Industry and Science
- Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
- Small Business Commissioner South Australia
- Fair Work Ombudsman
- Revenue SA
- Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC)
- TAFE SA
- Centrelink
- Polaris Business and Innovation Centre SA
- Asia Pacific Business Council for Women
- Settlement Services International (SSI)
- Access Community Service
- Women’s Information Service
- Philippines Business Chamber SA
- The Australia India Business Council
- Brace Education and Training,
- Sarina Russo Job Access,
- Auctus Business Training & Consulting,
- Management Business Advisors Consultants, and
- Sureway Employment and Training.
This expo continues to provide an important platform for developing a confident culturally diverse business community. The event brought together aspiring and existing migrant business owners and entrepreneurs, from a range of industries to access advice, information and support to start, grow and expand their businesses in our state.
Our delegates were from 41 diverse cultural backgrounds including German, Indian, UK, Australian, Romanian, Latvian, Russian, Hindu, Portuguese, Chinese, Persian, Brazilian, Dutch, Filipino, Mexican, Singaporean, Malaysian, Pakistani, Argentinian, Afghan, Iraqi, Iranian, Sri Lankan, Indonesian, Nepalese, Serbian, Egyptian, Venezuelan, Scottish, Italian, Sudanese, Greek, Bangladeshi, Burmese, Spanish, Ethiopian and Congolese. Some 30% were existing business owners looking to grow their business and we had just under 10% of attendees as young emerging business owners under the age of 25 years.
Please support these dedicated businesses, government agencies and community organisations who are making a profound difference in the lives of South Australia’s migrant communities and helping to create our future business leaders.
To find out more about the expo and how you can get involved in 2018, contact us via www.samsbe.com.au
