Making a Difference

It is one of my beliefs that all businesses should give back to the community - in no matter how small a way. It would be nice to be like Dame Elizabeth Murdoch and be 100 years of age and still giving back...but until we have that money and that wisdom it is good to do even a little.

Today I did my usual contribution at the Girls in Enterprise conference at CCIWA. 8 women from business talked to the young ladies about what it was like to run a small business. It was interesting in that 3 of the 8 were ex-teachers and all said there was too much focus in schools about making the right decision and getting the right grades. All had done many jobs...and were happy to move on and do something different.

One of the activities was for the young ladies to utilise limited resources (lego) to create a product (tower). They were introduced to skills that will stand them in good stead for their future. And sadly they are skills that are not focused on in formal schooling.

Great Gardens Even Greater

SSI worked in partnership with the Great Gardens team in 2008 with funding from the Australian Flexible Learning Framework to engage the business in elearning and ebusiness strategies. The final report has now been completed for the Great Gardens project and can be found here

Garry Heady who lead the project has been thrilled with the improvements made to his business operation. He is keen to have Steve work with him into 2009 to continue developing Great Gardens' Elearning capacity.

It is worth a visit to the Great Gardens web site to see the wonderful work they do promoting environmental sustainability...and the see the great strategies that Steve and Garry have designed and implemented for the Great Gardens team. www.greatgardens.info

Well into 2009

In spite of the economic downturn 2009 seems to have come with a rush. Schools are are large part of the business at this time of the year as contracts are developed for auspicing and delivery. The new Secondary Schooling contracts for students at risk is also providing some interest. On the other side of the equation there is more than normal interest from organisations who are exploring Elearning as a strategy to reduce costs and increase environmental sustainability. And of course it is funding submission time as well. I can't help thinking it is a bad time for a 3 day AQTF audit....but we did know it was coming :-(.

The free/low cost TAA that is government funded if you have an apprenticeship or traineeship is still very popular and people seem to be keen to take up the opportunity to increase their skills. In times of uncertainty qualifications and skills gain new importance. We expected a drop in traineeship numbers but they seem to be maintaining their popularity.

In spite of all the G&D predictions (gloom and doom) it seems that things are bubbling along nicely so far