Business skills training opportunity for regional women:
Adelaide workshop now planned

Coordinating business services in regional Australia - Expression of interest form PDF (136 KB)

A pilot workshop supporting service providers in rural and regional Australia to develop new business opportunities was held in Sydney in March 2008. Following the success of the pilot workshop, a South Australian workshop is now planned.

Thirteen professional service providers from regional Australia attended the pilot workshop "Coordinating Business Services in Regional Australia" in Sydney. Participants ran a variety of businesses, ranging from rural business management, project management, and marketing to agricultural extension services. Participants also ranged from those looking to start a business - to those looking to hand over to their successor. The workshop, supported by Horticulture Australia Limited and Meat & Livestock Australia, was designed and delivered by Amabel Fulton, Jeanette Long and Cathy McGowan.

The program was designed for women who were interest in starting, or already running their own business to service the training needs of their region, as training brokers. The term training broker is defined as "identifying needs and matching training to meet those needs". The workshop provided skills and tools from leading agribusiness trainers in areas such as business planning, networking, and training needs analysis.

The first workshop was a great success, with participants commenting that the workshop "...made a real difference to my life..." and "...was the most valuable training experience I have been to..."

Participants took part in two networking dinners with industry guests such as Sarah Pennell (General Manager – Professional Services, HAL) Jane Fisher (Senior Research Manager, RIRDC) and Nick Burton Taylor (Chair, Australian Agricultural Company). The dinners provided an opportunity for participants to meet and talk business with key industry people. Participants are now working on brokering projects in their region, and will come together again in September to review the program.

Another workshop is being planned for June 2nd to 5th in Adelaide, with support from FarmBis; expressions of interest are being received until Monday 5th May. The Adelaide workshop, supported by FarmBis, will cost $1,127 including GST for FarmBis eligible participants, and $3,223 for participants not eligible for FarmBis.

The Adelaide workshop (June 2nd - 5th), will commence at 6pm on Monday June 2nd with a welcome and introduction to the workshop; and include a five minute introduction from each participant. Tuesday includes: understanding personality types and skills; an industry panel; and networking sessions. Wednesday includes a business panel; business analysis; and brokering sessions. Participants will take part in two networking dinners on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings with the opportunity to meet industry guests. Thursday includes discussion of participant project plans, and the conclusion of the workshop at 1pm.

For more information on the Adelaide workshop contact Sharon Freer at Ag Consulting Co on 08 8837 3993 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it