Georgia Swain was dragging her feet on starting a business when she joined The Exchange’s growing community.
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In short time it has given her the motivation and guidance to launch Early Bird Branding.
“Starting my own business has already been a life-changing experience,” Mrs Swain said.
“I’m incredibly grateful to The Exchange for encouraging me to follow my dreams and to Charles Sturt University (CSU) for providing me with a space to do so.”
The Exchange at CSU’s Dubbo Campus was founded in September by Dubbo’s Jillian Kilby, the 2018 NSW Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award winner.
It provides space to work and access to a network of business people and service providers.
The Exchange’s online community exceeded 450 people two weeks after it opened its doors.
“The Exchange exists to ensure new business owners can thrive,” Ms Kilby said.
“We are building a community where people can bring their business idea to life, where they can collaborate with others...and use the facilities that CSU in Dubbo provides to start their own business.”
Mrs Swain has grabbed the opportunities presented by the Dubbo-first start-up business hub.
“Regional business owners have incredible stories to tell, but often don’t have the time or knowledge to spend hours promoting themselves on social media, updating their website or selling their story,” she said.
“I’m passionate about regional Australia and I want to help businesses tell their stories to the world. The Exchange is helping me do this by providing me with a free space where I am meeting new clients, and also a chance to collaborate with other small business owners such as graphic designers.”
Mrs Swain said The Exchange offered “great breakout spaces, quiet areas and work pods, meeting rooms, WiFi, videoconferencing, teleconferencing, lockers and a delicious cafe”.
“Best of all, I can use all of these facilities for free,” she said.
“This is an incredible opportunity for a business starting out with very little capital and it came about purely from meeting Jillian Kilby as part of The Exchange, at an opportune time in my life.”
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