Residents in the Barossa, Mid North and Yorke Peninsula are being supported to develop their own businesses through the Federal Government’s $17 million Entrepreneurship Facilitators expansion program, providing access to world-class free services to boost entrepreneurship.
The (NVI) at Flinders University has been selected as one of two entities in South Australia to deliver by the Australian Government’s Department of Jobs and Small Business, which is targeting 23 metropolitan and regional locations across Australian states and territories.
Anyone residing in the Barossa, Yorke Peninsula and Mid North regions of South Australia will be able to access the service including mature age Australians who may be well-placed to use their skills to start their own business, and those at risk of unemployment due to redundancy.
“We are excited to bring our award-winning innovation and entrepreneurship services to this region of our state,” says NVI Director Matt Salier.
“We hope to amplify the entrepreneurial ecosystem across South Australia, linking regional entrepreneurs with city-based contemporaries and NVI’s global network to boost regional business.”
Mark Sheasby, a 25-year veteran of entrepreneurial experience, will serve as the Entrepreneurship Facilitator for NVI Flinders. He will be based at the Uni Hub Spencer Gulf in Port Pirie and provide services across the region.
Services include providing tailored mentoring, as well as linking individuals to services and referrals that will help them start and run their own business.
“We will leverage the unique experiences and learnings of our eNVIsion Limestone Coast accelerator and incubator program based in Mount Gambier to benefit the Barossa /Yorke/Mid North region,” Mr Salier says.
“As part of our breadth of services offered, we are committed to running our acclaimed Venture Dorm initiative, Australia’s largest pre-accelerator program for aspiring entrepreneurs, within the region annually to benefit all residents.”
NVI is one of Australia’s premier centres for entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2018, it was named university entrepreneurial incubator in the Asia-Pacific region by the UBI World Benchmark Study. Since its establishment in 2013 it has trained nearly 4,000 people and supported over 400 start-ups that have raised close to $4.5 million.
