VISIONARY IDEAS WIN COOLAMON CHEESE COMPANY AND WORKING SPACES WAGGA ENTREPRENEUR GRANTS

Coolamon Cheese Company and Working Spaces Wagga have been selected as the inaugural Wagga Wagga grant recipients of the Beyond Bank Community Entrepreneur Program.

The Community Entrepreneur Program rewards entrepreneurs and start-ups with grants and access to support networks to help them realise their dreams and promote local economic development. Grants will be on offer twice a year for people and businesses committed to benefiting their community.

Working Spaces and Coolamon Cheese were unveiled as the winning Wagga Wagga applicants in the first round of the program at an awards ceremony and networking event held in Wagga Wagga on Thursday, 23 April 2015.

Coolamon Cheese Company plans to create a specialised modern tourism, education and cheese production facility in a transformed historical building in the town’s main street.

Working Spaces Wagga, the brainchild of local entrepreneur Simone Eyles, will provide shared workspaces that enable people to come together and collaborate to build high tech solutions.

“A key criteria of the Community Entrepreneur Program is for applications to demonstrate how they will give back to the local community,” Beyond Bank Chief Executive, Robert Keogh said.

“Coolamon Cheese Company will help draw tourists to the town; provide a sales outlet for cheese produced from locally sourced milk; deliver training in cheese, yoghurt and butter making; and increase the supply of labour, skills and Indigenous participation.

“Working Spaces Wagga is designed to provide new and growing businesses with affordable access to work space that is open and innovative in its design and tech enabled.

This will help businesses develop and maybe one day be a major employer in the region. There are about 200 small-to-medium enterprises in Wagga Wagga being run out of someone’s home and Working Spaces wants to support them to take their business to the next level.