Business skills for youth

Mayor Tracy Dobie says the forthcoming workshop will be the start of a local entrepreneurial movement in the Southern Downs.

An exciting opportunity has emerged for young entrepreneurs across the Southern Downs to pitch their ideas, gain invaluable business skills and lay the foundations for our future workforce.
Southern Downs Regional Council has partnered with Toowoomba-based consulting company Strategenics, to deliver a workshop for young people in the region, aged 15-24, to develop start-up skills to help ideas and innovations become alternative paths of employment.
Facilitated by Strategenics, and with support from the Stanthorpe and Warwick Chambers of Commerce, the ‘INCubate Start-up Workshop’ will be held on Saturday 11 March from 12.45pm to 10pm at the Warwick Town Hall.
The workshop will offer individuals the opportunity to pitch their product or business idea and then learn practical business skills and start-up principles, such as how to develop a business model and market an idea.
Participants will work in groups to pitch selected ideas to a panel which will decide on the most promising idea. The chosen group will then receive a business coaching session from Strategenics’ founder and managing director, Mr Chris Mills.
Southern Downs mayor Tracy Dobie said that she hoped the workshop would be the start of a local entrepreneurial movement in the Southern Downs.
“Ask any young person what is lacking in our region, and they will tell you it’s employment opportunities,” she said.
“By investing in young people to become more entrepreneurial and innovative, we can build the workforce of the 21st century and ensure the next generation has the potential to become job creators.
“This project will ensure young people in our region are set up to drive new innovations and business opportunities for themselves and for our community.
“If we can better prepare young people to succeed in a rapidly changing world, the productivity and prosperity of the Southern Downs region will be assured,” Cr Dobie said.
The ‘INCubate Start-up Workshop’ will offer spaces for 36 young people between the ages of 15 to 24 who reside in the Southern Downs region. Registrations close on 3 March 2017.
For further information, visit council’s website at www.sdrc.qld.gov.au
To register your place, contact council’s Economic Development Officer, Jenny Sherrin on jenny.sherrin@sdrc.qld.gov.au or youth development officer, Hailey Cosh-Rickard on hailey.cosh@sdrc.qld.gov.au or phone them on 1300 MY SDRC (1300 697 372).