‘Side Hustle to Sustainable Business’ Dialogue held for Pacific female entrepreneurs

MEDIA RELEASE

Over 50 female emerging business leaders explore the theme “From Side Hustle to Sustainable Business” at the 5th Pacific Connect ‘Women in Business’ Virtual Dialogue.

The International Centre for Democratic Partnerships (ICDP) held its final Virtual Dialogue for 2020 on the theme ‘From Side Hustle to Sustainable Business’ which was generated from within the Pacific Connect Community. The half-day talanoa brought together over 50 female emerging business leaders and new participants to the people-to-people program in a hybrid format, with Pacific Islanders able to attend from one of six hubs (Apia, Honiara, Lae, Port Moresby, Port Vila and Suva) or online along with their Australian counterparts.

The fifth Dialogue in the popular ‘Women in Business’ series saw our trailblazing women discuss how technology can be used to turn side hustles into success stories, and featured inspiring presentations from:

  • Ginia Sialis, Founder, TAPIOCA DELIGHT (PNG)
  • Manita Ray, Director & Principal Advisor, Capital Human (Australia)
  • Zha Agabe-Granfar, Founder & Executive Director, VERGE (PNG)

The presentations and ensuing Q&A sessions allowed participants to share their inspiring entrepreneurial stories, with many exploring the power of networks and technology in starting up their business and overcoming side hustle challenges like online payment systems, brand awareness and financial sustainability.

Simone Pensko, CEO of ICDP, said of the Dialogue: “Our women in business dialogues continue to be a pillar of our program which enables Pacific and Australian women to meet, share, learn and motivate each other to kick off an idea or to improve and expand their current business.”

Pacific Connect Program Manager, Tina Briggs, noted that “Going into our 4th year of operation it is wonderful to see the Pacific Connect Community continue to grow and start driving the program’s activities in support of Pacific peoples and communities.’

Following the Dialogue, new and existing members of our Pacific Connect Community were able to take stock of this most challenging year and continue building long-term relationships at end of year networking events. Despite border closures, the Community’s resilience and willingness to embrace online technologies helped to keep relationships strong and to build new connections.

Pacific Connect was launched by the Prime Minister of Australia in September 2017 to forge stronger, strategic-level relationships between Pacific and Australian leaders across the public, private and community sectors. ICDP has designed a program of activities to promote collaboration and business opportunities between Australia and the Pacific in applying digital technology to support sustainable development, with a focus on women and entrepreneurs.

For more information, contact: info@icdp.com.au