Mentoring with Spark
Last Friday Geoff headed along to mentor some aspiring entrepreneurs at Deakin’s first Spark event of the year.SPARK@Deakin is an experiential program designed to give students, staff and alumni of Deakin University an opportunity to see, experience, and relate to the early stages of the entrepreneurial path. The focus of SPARK@Deakin is educating and training aspirant entrepreneurs regarding how to approach a project from a commercial perspective. This is to help inspire and provide a pathway for current students and staff to realise their innovative ideas.
After a full day of workshops the day before, participants were getting down to business by doing some real customer interviews, exploring the popularity and potential of their idea. They then spent the afternoon preparing and practicing their pitches.
Geoff and the other mentors lent their expertise on how to build and deliver an engaging and successful pitch. Participants were from a range of faculties across Deakin, including engineering, health, it, education, and commerce. Many were experiencing the startup ecosystem for the first time. All were encouraged, supported and left with their heads full of important lessons for first time entrepreneurs.
Applications for participation in the Spark entrepreneuring program opened yesterday and staff and students have two weeks to submit their idea. Once ideas have been submitted, the Spark team will select the best from them to receive a further month’s mentoring to prepare them to pitch for up to $20,000 investment from the university in June.
At One10, we are excited to see educational institutions recognising the importance of fostering entrepreneurial spirit in young people, and encouraging the pursuit of new and innovative ideas that may help to shape the future of Australia and the world.
#News Great to see One10 Groups valued client ANC Delivers proud to announce a significant new funding agreement with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to accelerate the electrification of their delivery fleet.
In recent years, the concept of social enterprises has gained significant traction, serving as a driving force for positive change within our communities and the global business landscape. Social enterprises are unique entities that combine commercial activities with a core mission of creating social, environmental, or community impact.
Unlike traditional businesses solely focused on profit maximisation, these enterprises prioritise generating meaningful, sustainable change while ensuring financial stability. As our society moves towards a more conscious and inclusive economy, understanding the essence of social enterprises is crucial.
The past year has brought a lot of change to the work environment. The new ideas and changes came in a spur of the moment, but the innovative ideas of online message boards and remote working had been cultivating long before the pandemic.
When people with similar passions such a programming, marketing, or social innovation get together, they can challenge each other and cultivate new ideas or grow existing ones. When one engages with other professionals, it is like working on a team; everyone brings something new to the table. Corporate hackathons enable impact, disruption, and innovation within an industry.
The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to reduce global warming is the goal set out by the Paris Agreement. The global energy demand makes it impossible to abandon carbon as a source of energy altogether. However, companies have turned to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology to address carbon release into the atmosphere. The technology has been utilized in a wide range of industries since 1972 and reduces greenhouse gas emissions around the world.
CCS involves three significant steps:
1. Capturing CO2 at the source
2. Compressing CO2 for transportation
3. Injecting CO2 deep into a rock formation at a carefully selected and safe site, where it is permanently stored.
The United Nations set up a collection of 17 interlinked goals designed to be achieved by 2030 to attain a better and more sustainable future. The goals serve as a blueprint towards change and influence the social innovations of the global community.
Three months into 2021, several trends have begun to grow around social innovation inspired primarily by the 17 UN sustainable goals and the global pandemic's impact. Headlines are bleak in depicting the changes going on around us, but below are a few positive changes worldwide.
Entrepreneurship is a key aspect of business growth. It can promote economic growth, innovation, spark social change, etc. The new ideas, products, and services developed by individuals or groups of individuals hold power for change and improvement.
The social entrepreneur brings about positive change in society by tackling social, environmental, and cultural issues. Social enterprises find their roots in the minds of social entrepreneurs. The impact generated by their entrepreneurial ventures is seen in local and global communities.
One10 Group client Consolidated Land and Rail Australia Pty Ltd (CLARA) just won the ‘2020 Global Strategic Project of The Year’ as part of the 13th CG/LA Infrastructure forum.
This is great news, #CLARA was up against 250 major projects from around the world, narrowed down to the Top 100, then shortlisted to 15, then to 3 and then as #WINNER!
Self-harm is the leading cause of death for young people in Australia aged 5-17, half of all mental health problems emerge by age 14, and anxiety depression and suicide are on the rise.
Now with the extraordinary challenges presented to Australian communities in 2020 with drought, floods, bushfire and now covid-19, mental illness is skyrocketing, and children are at an increased risk. According to a new report released by University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre, even in a “best-case scenario”, Australia is forecast to see an increase in suicide deaths of “at least” 13.7% over the next 5 years.
It’s no secret that innovation is the key for success in business today. Innovation allows us to reshape the processes that we have to improve upon what is already there. Whether it allows us to use less resources, become more sustainable, achieve a higher profit yield, or bring a new idea into the world, innovation is the key to be a successful entrepreneur in the world today.
Social innovation can be seen in many companies and businesses across the world whether it can be seen in their processes, products, workshops, or even at their headquarters.
Some would argue that businesses have a responsibility to incorporate some social impact initiatives into their business models. Regardless, the impact of doing so has an effect far beyond the communities the initiatives seek to benefit: it can help the business, too. For one, 64% of Millennials won’t take a job at a company if it doesn’t have values aligned with social responsibility.
A recent global report by Accenture found that customers are more likely to spend money with a company when their brand purposes reflect issues that matter to the consumer.
Perhaps you feel the pull to align your business with social impact and are wondering how to start. To alter your business’s impact while positively affecting your company’s reputation for future employees and customers, follow these steps to incorporate social impact into your business model.