FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 2020

“I now know that anyone can be an entrepreneur with the right mindset”

**IGGS parent and participant in the first ever Entrepreneur and Innovator Program for the parent community.

In a year of unprecedented change, Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School including Ipswich Junior Grammar School (IGGS & IJGS) has opened its doors to the parent community in a first of its kind program for Queensland.

Already recognised as a leading school in the region, IGGS & IJGS has welcomed fifteen parents into the Entrepreneur and Innovator Program.

Following on from the success of the Student Entrepreneur Program launched at the beginning of the 2020 school year, the School’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence and program facilitator, Ms Peta Ellis, saw the opportunity to introduce the program to parents who were passionate about a business idea but didn’t quite know how to get started.

“During COVID, we’ve seen a lot of parents shift the way they work. For some, they have had to move from their corporate roles and are now considering what to do next. Our Entrepreneur Program for students saw so many successful enterprises take off that we thought it would be the perfect time to share this knowledge with parents, too,” Ms Ellis stated.

The 12-week program, created by Ms Ellis who also attended Ipswich Girls’ Grammar, took groups of interested Years 9 to 11 students through a comprehensive process to effectively formulate viable business concepts to take to market. Students were guided through a range of subjects including Entrepreneurship 101, the entrepreneurial mindset, the global business landscape,  tech and trends in business, business model adaptation and understanding some of the hurdles business owners face, including mental health in self-employment and entrepreneurship.

During the program students developed five businesses using their own original concepts.

Extending the Entrepreneur and Innovator Program to the parent group allowed more members of the School’s community to benefit from learning the tools, techniques, and mindset of entrepreneurship which are highly beneficial in times of transition, change and hardship.

From a platform to manage deceased estates for families who need to suddenly manage the complexity of processing and managing the deceased family member’s affairs during difficult times; to an app for parents to help keep their mood, tone and energy in check when managing the busy morning rush and get themselves and their family out the door with ease; the business ideas and concepts were far ranging.

There were many solid business concepts created during the program including Helping Hands, Catherine’s Hampers and Westside Lactation Consultants. Two of the participants who were already experienced business operators took the opportunity to look at ways they could innovate their existing operations. One of the participants was so inspired by the course content that it sparked a complete change in their lives.

“This course has given me the confidence to leave the same job I have been doing for 40 years and start afresh,” said one of the parents.

For others, their view of entrepreneurship has now changed significantly. According to one of the parents who participated in the program, she now views “An entrepreneur as someone who is actively looking at the world as a place of opportunity, collaboration and action to make change for the better.”

For many participants in the course, opening their eyes to new opportunities and considering the possibilities of becoming an entrepreneur themselves was invigorating.

“I knew we had the ability to change the lives of our students - but this program has shown we can help change the lives of their parents, too,”

Said Ms Ellis, in summary of the positive outcomes the program had achieved.