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Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) has been running free Into Business™ Workshops around the country for over two years to assist Indigenous Australians create viable businesses and will be holding one shortly in Brisbane.
The Into Business™ Workshops are part of IBA’s national Business Development and Assistance Program, which assists Indigenous Australians to establish, acquire and grow small to medium businesses – closing the gap in business ownership.
IBA CEO Chris Fry said that this is achieved by investing in business skills development for Indigenous Australians.
“It is important to note that our workshops aim to prepare Indigenous Australians for business ownership – some workshop graduates go on to source business finance from banks or IBA; others go on to start a business independently.
“At the workshops participants work with a business specialist to learn how to thoroughly research their idea to determine whether it is commercially viable, and what is required to manage a business on a day-to-day basis.
“Since their inception, IBA has held 1300 workshops across Australia with over 2567 Indigenous Australians benefitting through 5,720 attendances at the events.
“The success of the Into Business™ Workshops and the extra services IBA provides our customers have resulted in a business survivability rate of 91% for the first 12 months that is better than the general business survival rates across Australia.
“This emphasises how potential Indigenous entrepreneurs are being empowered to self-determine the feasibility of their business idea,” Mr Fry said.
The next workshop “A” date in Brisbane is 25 March 2014. People interested in attending need to register before 22 March 2014 (date 3 days before workshop).
People wanting to find out more information or to participate can reserve a place by contacting their IBA office on FreeCALL™1800 107107.
Media contact: Daniel Hughes on 0427 011 938 or email Daniel.hughes@iba.gov.au