In this section you will find profiles on some of the BSSB Mentoring, Training & Leadership program participants.

Clandulla Cottages - Lorna Butler

www.clandullacottages.com.au

Lorna Butler of Clandulla Cottages is undertaking the Mentoring, Training and Leadership program in 2009.

“Clandulla Cottages and Farmstay is a tranquil and private getaway featuring luxurious self contained accommodation. Located in the Gold Coast Hinterland at the foot of Tamborine Mountain,” says the Clandulla Cottages website.

Clandulla Cottages is a new facility and Lorna and her husband John are looking forward to the BSSB program helping them to develop a high quality and effective enterprise.

Nickel Renewable Energy - Nick Lake

www.nickelenergy.com.au

Nick Lake of Nickel Energy was one of the first people to complete the Mentoring, Training and Leadership program in 2009.

Nick’s website states:

“Nickel Renewable Energy installs renewable energy technology throughout the North Coast of NSW and South East Queensland. We love the community in which we live and work, and want to enhance our community's sustainability and wellbeing. Our Vision is to power our region with clean renewable energy.”

Since completing the BSSB program, Nickel Renewable Energy has gone ahead in leaps and bounds and Nick is working closely with communities in the Scenic Rim region as well as his local area of northern NSW.

Wallaby Ridge Retreat - Robyn Fortescue

www.wallabyridge.com.au

“Crowning its own private vineyard and silhouetted against the dramatic escarpment of Tamborine Mountain in Queensland's Gold Coast Hinterland sits Wallaby Ridge Retreat reflecting a rustic earthy charm in tune with it's surroundings,” says the Wallaby Ridge website.

Robyn Fortescue of Wallaby Ridge Retreat started the Mentoring, Training and Leadership program in early 2009.

Robyn said that Wallaby Ridge Retreat has created a culture of great accommodation and wholesome good food for its clientele over the last 3 years of operation and wants to go further by offering not only home cooked, but home-grown and locally supplied produce to showcase the regions wares.

How do we find more opportunities for guests to experience the local area and its food in a green and sustainable manner. Wallaby Ridge has started down the path by accreditation for a green star rating with AAA Tourism but needed something extra to complement these energy saving and recycling guidelines.

Robyn feels the BSSB program will provide the solution: the opportunity to be mentored and the exposure to other like minds will be that next step. Robyn and John Fortescue expect that by the end of the program they will not only be a fantastic example of a local living economy business, the ultimate outcome is that our customer’s experience will also be very special as well.

Practical Aquaponics – Murray and Gail Hallam

www.aquaponics.net.au

After participating in the Beaudesert Free Workshops earlier this year, Murray and Gail Hallam have now enrolled in the Mentoring, Training and Leadership program to pursue their sustainability journey with their North MacLean based business.

Since coming across the Aquaponics Concept in January 2006 by a chance conversation, I have been totally hooked on Aquaponics,” says Murray on their website.

I have always been very interested in growing my own vegetables and a keen fisherman, so the idea of Aquaponics (being able to grow your own fish and vegetables together) really struck a chord with me.”
“With my experience as a boat builder, and skills in Fibre Glass I decided early to manufacture the right Grow Beds and Fish Tanks for my own use and other Aquaponist’s in Australia.”
“Naturally I started right away to get some Australian native fish and get on with learning all I could about Aquaponics by practical application.”

Murray and Gail will be matched up with a mentor to suit their business needs.

Sustainable Hemp Products – Michelle and Matt Stapleton

www.sustainablehempproducts.com.au

Beechmont business, Sustainable Hemp Products, was established by Michelle and Matt Stapleton as a natural progression from the overwhelming desire to promote and educate people of the virtues and commonsense answers that Industrial Hemp and other natural fibre products can provide.
“We are a family business and we care about the world we are going to leave behind for our children. We believe that Hemp is a natural versatile product that has some environmentally sustainable answers to the problems faced by increased consumerism in the societies in which we live,” says Michelle on their website, www.sustainablehempproducts.com.au.

Michelle and Matt have been matched up with business mentor, Tony Chadwick.

Tony is Chairman of the Logan Office of Economic Development & Director, Australian Green Development Forum
. Educated in Melbourne with qualifications in Marketing and Business Management, Tony has founded three companies and has worked at senior executive level for both Australian and USA publicly listed entities.
However, he is best known as an agent of change, especially in pioneering new technology developments, or leading teams to unleash ‘blue ocean’ strategies.
Tony has been described as a Maverick, with entrepreneurial qualities and joined Delfin Lend Lease in 2005 to spearhead Innovation and Business Development, including the ‘Yarrabilba’ project – Australia’s first sustainable city.

InterNATIONAL PARK Tours (IPT) – Lisa Groom

www.parktours.com.au

InterNATIONAL PARK Tours is a Beechmont based business that promotes international walking tours throughout the world. Director, Lisa Groom, embarked on the Mentoring, Training and Leadership program earlier this year and has been linked up with Innes Larkin, President of Beaudesert Country Tourism and Director of Mt Barney Lodge, as her mentor.
Ms Groom has been running IPT since 2001 and her vision for the company focuses on creating ‘slow’ tours and sustainable, educational travel.

Her commitment to sustainable travel was inspired by her very first assignment as a tour guide with IPT when she visited Eastern Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain. During that trip she saw great potential for tourism to help rebuild and support local communities.

“To me, there is a long-term, positive side to tourism when it can assist in the revitalisation of depressed local economies and meaningfully employ people in local communities,” Ms Groom said.

“At IPT, we recognise that our own business operation needs to be reviewed and overhauled to lighten our ecological footprint and better-support our own community and region.

“We are aiming to come home to the Scenic Rim region more, hone our international travel so it focuses on life-changing education and experience, and create a business that helps people to savour this amazing part of the world.

“We’re excited to be working with Innes Larkin and the BSSB program because we will receive relevant, practical, expert assistance to help us transform our business, make it more relevant to the 21st Century and ensure it is financially healthy too,” Ms Groom said.

Director of Mt Barney Lodge and President of Beaudesert Country Tourism, Innes Larkin, is a keen supporter of Building Sustainable Small Business and recently signed onto the program as a small business mentor.

Mr Larkin is part of the team who have successfully pitched the Scenic Rim Region and the Mount Warning Wollumbin Caldera as a major international tourism destination through the National Landscapes initiative.

“I anticipate that this shire and region could become a national and international tourism destination because of our extraordinary flora, fauna, national parks and unique natural environment, as well as the diversity of local businesses that are skilling up to provide high-quality, eco-friendly experiences for visitors,” Mr Larkin said.

“We have an incredible natural heritage – one of the most biodiverse and beautiful in the world as recognised through World Heritage Listing in so many parts of the shire. Now our local businesses have the opportunity to become leaders in sustainable business and industry.

“I am thrilled to be part of the Building Sustainable Small Business program as a mentor because I will be working closely with some of our shire’s tourism businesses to help them become accredited ecotourism operators as well as to develop sustainability transition plans,” Mr Larkin said.