Central West Young Entrepreneurs Summit success
Published on 24 March 2022
The third annual Central West Young Entrepreneurs Summit, hosted in Mudgee’s newest venue, has been met with excellent feedback from both attendees and speakers.
Local business owners, students and staff in a range of industries from real estate to retail, learnt from some of Australia’s most successful young entrepreneurs who grew their startups into international companies.
Hosted at the all new Mudgee Arts Precinct, more than 40 attendees heard from The Block favourites and professional renovators Kyal and Kara, co-creator of one of Australia’s biggest swimwear brands Budgy Smuggler, Adam Linforth, founder of Australia’s largest eco store Flora & Fauna, Julie Mathers, founding partner of bespoke food tour company Straight To The Source, Tawnya Bahr and co-founder of Knafeh/The Bearded Bakers, Ameer El-Issa.
Chief Smuggler at Budgy Smuggler, Adam Linforth took the audience on a journey from very humble beginnings in a Manly garage to now having offices in the UK.
“I would have loved something like this when I was first starting out,” Adam said.
“Probably the best thing about hearing from some of the other speakers is that we talk about all the things that went wrong, and we probably learn from that as much, if not more, than what’s gone right.
“There was a really good mix of young people from school-aged to people who are starting their own businesses to those who have established businesses. I’ve been through all those phases so I really enjoyed getting to share each of them.
“It took us nearly a decade to get established as a proper business, so hopefully after today it won’t take them as long as it took me.”
Joining Adam was Creative Director of the Bearded Bakers, Ameer El-Issa, who not only treated guests to the story of his hospitality business but also a taste of his family’s Knafeh dish, a traditional Middle Eastern dessert.
“It was such an incredible experience just being in a country town, I’ve heard about Mudgee so much and heard about the people so it’s actually nice to be here and connecting with our youth and people who are our future,” Ameer said.
“I hope they took away some really core values of what we do and why we do it.
“I think [this event] is such an incredible initiative, giving people a bit of a boost or inspiration because it is so easy to get caught up in the day to day.
“What an interactive audience, and I think the fact that it is designed for youth is incredible because they are going to be the change makers of the future.”
Journalist and podcast host, Tom Tilley MC’d the day, facilitating engaging discussions between speakers and attendees.
Owner of Gorjus Mudgee, Jill Brangwin said hearing face to face about the journeys of other business owners was invaluable.
“I found it really informative, there were some really good speakers who explained their journeys and how they got to where they are,” Jill said.
“I am really happy that Council puts something like this on. It’s not every day you get to meet people like that and speak to them and I think it’s really worthwhile for all businesses.
“You don’t have to have anything in common with the business that they’re actually promoting or are in, it’s the journey and everyone shares that same journey.”
Patrick Power, Client Service Manager at The Property Shop attended the full-day event and said he took away a number of learnings he will be applying in his career.
“I think the big takeaway for me was perseverance, as they said, you get back what you put in, so there will be bumps in the road but as long as you stick at it you can get through to that end goal,” Patrick said.
“It’s very inspiring, you learn a lot and you get a lot of takeaways which you can apply in your day to day life.”
Hosted in conjunction with Small Business Month, the Central West Young Entrepreneurs Summit was made possible through funding provided by the NSW Government’s Stronger Country Communities and Regional NSW Business Event Development funds.