Monday, 11 October 2021
Kingscote on Kangaroo Island was abuzz last Thursday night as graduates from the South Australian Business Chamber Cultivate KI program celebrated their innovation and success. The program brought together local business owners to build their skills, knowledge and confidence through mentoring, workshops and the opportunity to work alongside their peers.
Executive Director, Employer Solutions and Programs at the South Australian Business Chamber, Jenny Briggs, said that building the skills of business owners on Kangaroo Island is key to long term sustainable business success.
“Off the back of the devastating bushfires at the start of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic really did exacerbate the logistics of accessing the right skills on the island, she said.
“Through Cultivate KI, we set about ensuring these business owners had support to consider the long list of areas covered in a business plan, including finance, sales and customer service, marketing, HR, legal, and digital.
Chief Executive of the South Australian Business Chamber, Martin Haese, said that the Cultivate KI program is the perfect combination of skills development and mentoring to ensure that these business owners don’t feel alone in their journey.
“I’m really proud of our Cultivate KI graduates for their tenacity, and with such incredible commitment to their business ideas, I have no doubt of their future success.
“Our graduates cover a broad range of commercial operations including a local deli, mushrooms, brewing, lavender, coffee, ending period poverty, recruitment, mental health, free-range chickens, holistic health, publishing, and a cooking school.
“We thank the Department for Innovation and Skills for funding this program.
Cultivate KI graduate Mike Holden from Kangaroo Island Brewery said as an established business, the program helped him take his operations to the next level.
“It really got me thinking about why we do what we do, he said.
“It’s about taking the business to the next level and having fun while we’re doing it, especially at a brewery!”.
Minister for Innovation and Skills, the Hon. David Pisoni MP, said that the resilience of the business community on Kangaroo Island is to be commended.
“There’s no doubt that Kangaroo Island has really been hit over the past couple of years but it keeps bouncing back,” said Minister Pisoni.
“Being able to fund programs like this is inspiring because the idea-generation and support in this group will benefit each of them as they implement their business plans.”
The Cultivate KI Business Growth Program was delivered by the South Australian Business Chamber in partnership with the Kangaroo Island Business Hub and funded by Department for Innovation and Skills to assist the local business community to reimagine and rebuild following the COVID-19 pandemic and the catastrophic bushfire season of 2020.
