We are very excited to partner with Advanced Queensland to run our upcoming Regional and Outback Queensland Evolve program.
The program kicked off last week with a group of fourteen talented founders. We are looking forward to supporting them as they take their business to the next level.
The Grass Skirt Project is a non-profit organisation founded by Tahina Booth to fight gender-based violence in PNG. Tahina is half Papua New Guinean and Australian and lived in PNG until she was 9, before moving to Australia, and retains her links to her heritage through regular family visits. As a result, she has an intrinsic understanding of the issues faced by communities in PNG. Tahina is a tri international athlete, representing Australia in Olympic weightlifting and Powerlifting and Papua New Guinea in Rugby League. She has a strong belief in the power of sport to drive social change; a belief that is informed by her own experience. The Grass Skirt Project seeks to empower women and girls in PNG by collecting donated sporting equipment in Australia and providing it to communities.
Margarita Silva
Zomno was created in 2020 in an attempt to improve the mental health of caregivers, by the improvement of children's sleep through an app that allows predicting the behaviour of babies at sleep time. This with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning. In addition, the app is designed as a special work tool for health professionals who work in the field of children's sleep, organizing their work and making it more efficient and effective. Margarita is a psychologist with more than 8 years of clinical experience in Chile. Margarita moved to Australia in 2019 with my husband and 2 kids, León and María and a few months later Teo joined the family. She is passionate about helping caregivers to develop and get the best out of them, and thus to be the parents who manage to raise healthy children, loved and with the best example. In this way, prevent future mental illnesses.
MemberApp is a content delivery and member engagement system, built by membership owners and course creators. An all in one solution taking away the pain of multiple plugins, third-party subscriptions, tech stress and all the loose puzzle pieces we have to try and find and piece together when building a membership, a coaching program or an online course. MemberApp delivers a single professional solution to those starting or wishing to grow their membership, online course or coaching deliveries. Found by Nikki, who has a passion for learning and developing products to fulfil the consumers' needs through her career DNA. She weaves a busy working life into the cracks of her highest priority as a mum to my two beautiful children. Nikki’s entrepreneurial spirit and innate curiosity keep me exploring interesting business and personal opportunities.
Bid Strategist and Tender Conqueror Toni Raso helps business owners make sense of the grant and tender process. Since opening her business in January 2018, Toni has helped dozens of companies understand how to incorporate tenders in their strategic growth, look for opportunities, decide what’s worth applying for, and what strategies and techniques to use when writing the response. With 25 years’ employment in both public and private sectors, formal postgraduate qualifications reinforce her experience. Toni is committed to lifelong learning and reads voraciously. She leverages professional and personal growth opportunities towards achieving her commitment to continuous improvement.
Jo has been an Accountant with 5+ years of process improvement and knowledge management experience. She has designed and implemented solutions for a range of complex problems including diversity targets, HR technology, digital transformations and organisational restructures. Founded GOJII when Jo identified an opportunity to revolutionise the Graduate experience while working in a large corporate company. GOJII provides the visibility, mobility and connections to grow your own talent. Our custom portal makes it easy for graduates and young professionals to take on new development experiences, build skills and find the connections across the business to talk careers and opportunities.
With more than 20 years of experience in business growth, education and strategy, Tara has built an extensive career in adult learning and knowledge application, with a particular focus on peer-to-peer learning. Tara has founded three training organisations and now with Amanda Cole, is co-founder of Groei, an organisation that offers virtual peer learning solutions for a range of industries that need to connect their people. Their approach scaffolds underpinning group knowledge through micro-learning, tech-driven processes and infused by content specialists and skilled virtual moderators. By applying advanced knowledge and facilitation techniques we build learning communities that develop trust and social capital to apply knowledge faster.
Amanda Cole is recognised as an expert in a peer mentoring and delivering learning experiences that facilitate growth for small to medium businesses. Amanda was a Director of peer mentoring business Executive Roundtable (ER) from 2000-2006 when it was sold to competitor The Executive Connection (TEC). And now together with Tara Jacobsen, she has launched the Growth Education Institute (groei), Australia’s first-ever virtual peer learning solution, developed to help regional industries and organisations grow sustainably and successfully. Groei aims to provide experienced peer learning facilitation informed by neuroscience principles and online tools that drive the process for learning, community building and practical application, etc.
Megan MillerHerd XL
Megan grew up on a sheep and cattle property in western Qld. Since leaving school, both Megan and her husband Andrew have continually worked in the beef industry, working on and managing properties. Together they ran their own cattle business through leasing a property off family. They have spent over 6 years managing a cattle property in western Qld, where they raise their four daughters. Megan is passionate about the Australian beef industry. Herd XL was initially developed for their own private use in the beef enterprise they run but realised how much Herd XL could also benefit other producers and the agricultural industry as a whole. Their mission is to positively impact other agricultural businesses through simple and effective, assistive decision-making solutions.
Sue has 30 years of experience in the world of corporate marketing communications for major engineering, infrastructure and building construction organisations. She also curated and coordinated conferences addressing urban design, urban planning and liveable and safe cities in Australia and New Zealand. Living in a regional area, she strongly believes in the essence of community and supporting the region's economic growth. This Regional Life provides information for people thinking of moving to live in a regional area in Australia. The move has been underway for some time, but it has surged with the pandemic triggering the increased level of acceptance of work-from-home, digital connectivity, and the decentralisation of large organisations with a regional market base.
Bianca ParkesMomedic
Based in regional Queensland, Momedic provides simple, effective, and convenient hand hygiene options for health care professionals, and other essential and frontline workers. Momedic aims to make hand hygiene more convenient, and in an environmental manner. Momedic products will increase hand hygiene compliance, particularly pertinent during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Recent international research has highlighted the need for ergonomically optimised, personal hand sanitiser dispensers for health care professionals and other essential and frontline workers, particularly those working outside of hospital systems. Bianca has over 20 years of experience in both Sports Management and Education. No stranger to a challenge, Bianca studied her Bachelor of Education (Secondary Health and Physical Education) over 6 years whilst starting her family and working full time.
Cool Beans Underwear is a Queensland-based start-up business that is the world's first patent-protected male fertility underwear, scientifically designed to optimise sperm health through its supportive airflow external mesh pouch design. Saara and her husband Jordan went through their own infertility journey and wanted to purchase some underwear to optimise Jordan’s sperm. This is how they realised there was a gap in the market and the idea for Cool Beans was born. Saara holds a Bachelor of Science, with extensive study in the fields of anatomy & physiology; reproduction and thermoregulation (a process that allows the body to maintain its core internal temperature), with experience working in medical research at Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) researching colorectal cancer before happily having her first child.
Yolande WoodsAerohart
Yolande Woods is a wife, mother, interior designer, pilot and cattle property owner based in Goondiwindi, Queensland. Aerohart was created from her desire to see a stylish, modern and sophisticated alternative for must-have aviation equipment. The brand is the combination of her eye for style and her passion for flying. As an advocate for creating a life where your greatest loves come together and embracing the art of living well, Yolande sees opportunities where others might see challenges
Michelle CumminsThe Toxin Free Pet Bedding Company
The Toxin Free Pet Bedding Company (trading as Henry Hottie Pet Beds) began 12 years ago and manufactures Australia’s only patented therapeutic, non-toxic pet bed. Designed to provide therapeutic relief to animals with a degenerative disease, skin allergies, sensitivity to toxins, post-op recovery and those pets guardians who seek out supportive, quality, safe bedding. Reviews from customers and industry professionals have seen Henry Hottie Pet Beds grow in both Australia and South East Asia markets, with the UK and USA on the horizon. Noticeable improvement in the mobility of canines experiencing arthritis, hip dysplasia, ACL tears and more, resulted in a patent application 2014. After five years of trials and examinations, the patent was granted in November 2019. Initially, the patent was applied for as a Therapeutic Pet Bed, however, upon approval IP Australia granted the patent for a Therapeutic Bed, explaining the benefit of the bed was not limited to pets but to all species. This has created the opportunity for the development of a therapeutic, non-toxic baby cot mattress.
Way We Do is a RegTech and Business Process Management (BPM) platform that integrates with over 2,000 web applications to automate quality, risk and compliance processes. Jacqui Jones is the co-founder and CEO of Way We Do. Jacqui’s background is in digital product management and Internet marketing and has been working in the Internet industry since 1996. She held senior positions in companies such as Acting Head of Digital Media at Yellow New Zealand, Search and Online Marketing Specialist at Netconcepts NZ, and also Managing Director of web development agency, Webenz.