THE Rural Business Development Corporation has launched a pilot-mentoring program for struggling agribusinesses in rural Western Australia.
THE Rural Business Development Corporation has launched a pilot-mentoring program for struggling agribusinesses in rural Western Australia.
The Grow Zone Mentoring Project, created by WA Council of Social Service trainer Dee Roche, has matched five farmers and business owners in the rural sector with five metropolitan business leaders.
The RBDC administers financial support schemes for the farm sector on behalf of the state government and delivers other services for the benefit of rural industry.
RBDC director Murray Gmeiner said by recruiting volunteer mentors with sound business acumen, the program aimed to “close the urban-rural divide” and transform the state’s agribusiness sector.
Under the program, mentors work closely with mentees to assist them in reaching predetermined objectives and business plans, complementing existing initiatives generated by the RBDC.
Marion Fulker, chief executive of the Committee for Perth Limited, is assisting Narrogin farmer Ashley Wiese to diversify his business and introduce a gluten-free grain.
“Understanding what is happening in the region was very important, but everyday business principles can be adopted without any knowledge or experience working on a farm,” Ms Fulker said.
Mr Wiese said he was being mentored to improve his farm management skills and develop his business practices to spend time on research and development into a gluten-free grain.
He said Ms Fulker was assisting him to better understand his business in terms of employee management, recruitment and communications between management and staff.
“While Marion doesn’t have farming knowledge of the day-to-day operations, she’s helping me more with the structure of the business like determining what type of people to employ to free up time for R&D, and whether they should be casual or full-time,” Mr Wiese said.
Other Grow Zone mentors include Seaspin managing director Charles Morgan, Insight Marketing and Management director Ray Wilson, Wine and Truffle Company chief executive Alan Nelson, and Richard Duldig, project director, executive education, Murdoch University.
The other mentees include Ballard Seeds managing director Leigh Ballard, Joondalup entrepreneur Henk de Graaf, Cunderdin farmer David Fulwood, and Jerramungup stud sheep breeder Sandy Forbes.
