In an Australian first, Adelaide City Council is calling for entrepreneurial residents to join its Social Ventures Incubator Program.
The world-class program, supported by industry experts, will provide approximately eight teams of two to three members with practical skills to develop and launch their own social ventures.
Proposed ventures must aim to have a social and economic impact on The City of Adelaide.
The program, running from June to September, is scheduled to include four full-day and four half-day sessions and cover areas such as social impact, pitching, business planning, legal obligations and communications.
Lord Mayor Martin Haese, an entrepreneur himself, said the program was another way Council is showing its support for the smart city agenda and providing opportunities for social entrepreneurs to join together and really make a difference.
“It’s incredible to look back over the last five years and see the exciting and changing times for start-ups and social entrepreneurs in Adelaide.
“Since 2011 we have seen more than 115 innovation programs, including 18 co-working spaces and 13 incubator programs emerge, creating a rich entrepreneurial ecosystem that’s luring entrepreneurs from both interstate and overseas.
“It just makes good sense for us to offer our residents, business people and students support through the Social Ventures Incubator Program and encourage them in pursuing their ideas and turning them into something really meaningful and sustainable for the whole community,” the Lord Mayor said.
The program’s lead facilitator is Suhit Anantula of Business Models Inc. who has coached social entrepreneurship through the Vic Health Challenge, OFTA Challenge, China Australia Millennial Project and Young Social Pioneers Program.
Mr Anantula will lead a team of highly experienced facilitators to design and deliver the program through a series of workshops, as well as calling on industry experts to provide mentoring and support to successful applicants.
