5 things I learned on the "Diesel and Dust" Tour that was Australia Post Regional Pitchfest

Over the past 3 months, I have been privileged to be part of the Australia Post Regional Pitchfest team. Many of you would have seen some of the media coverage of this amazing programme, which took us to all corners of Regional Australia and impacted upon thousands of regional Small Business owners, start up and innovation community members, Australia Post staff and towns and communities in all eight states and territories. We hosted the Regional Pitch events themselves (more on that later) as well as Tall Poppies events for local female businesswomen, Go and Grow events to help businesses go online and grow their businesses, MAP immersion programmes for local start-ups and entrepreneurs and programmes in schools to inspire high school kids to solve real life problems using tools such as design thinking and LEAN canvas. It was an awesome series of events that was a huge success for us and, more importantly, for the communities we worked with. 

 I learned some amazing things on this journey, not only about the diversity and rich tapestry of Regional Australia but about what we can all be doing more of to support and grow the inspirational businesses operating throughout Australia now and into the future.

1.  The culture of collaboration is strong in Regional Australia

In each of the regions we were in we looked to bring together local ‘activators’ to promote the events and support local people to participate. In each and every instance I was blown away not only by the local response, embracing our programme and encouraging each other but also by the way local council, co-working spaces, community advocacy groups and local business chambers and networking groups came together around a common goal and worked together to make it a success. I could not name for you the specific agenda of any of these groups as they all parked their individual agendas to ensure the people involved had the best experience possible. This is something we could really learn from in other areas (and indeed in our own businesses) as it was just astonishing what this empowered local team could deliver and the positive energy it brought to the programme.

2.   Innovation is very strong in Regional Australia

We had hundreds of applicants for the Regional Pitchfest and 40 came through to the state finals. This is a great result for a pilot programme but what I also learned on the ground is that there are so many other great entrepreneurs and small businesses in each of these communities just calling out for capability build and support – some of them just don’t know how great they are! I truly believe that people in regional Australia were innovating before innovation became a thing and, with the digital capability available to them now to help them scale, this truly is their time to shine. 

3.  We need to bring the support to regional Australia

Those of us working in the ‘ecosystem’  need to find more ways to connect with regional businesses and help them to grasp the opportunities – be it logistics solutions for moving product, funding and investment opportunities, capability build in commercialisation, mentorship, connections to customers – there are a multitude of diverse businesses out there with the right culture to be hugely successful and they are open and ready for the support needed to scale. I saw huge diversity in these businesses from fashion, social purpose, real estate, food and education technology, just to name a few. Not all business in the regions are ‘regional’ in nature – there are just some amazing people working on amazing ideas with an open mind as to the help they will accept – all that is needed is to make it visible and available to them! It really made me pause for thought when I was asked questions like – when will someone be able to participate in a world class accelerator from a regional location?... or How can a regional business connect with VC better? We all talk about the borderless nature of commerce due to technology and it is now up to us to use this technology to reach regional businesses and help them thrive!

4.  The ‘intersection’ of start-up and corporate is a special place where MAGIC can happen

Supporting Regional Australia and building the capability and successes of Small Business is at the core of Australia Post’s purpose, strategy and future (as well as our 208-year past) and this is a key pillar in the next chapter of our story. When we set out to build a programme to engage Regional small businesses and entrepreneurs we could have easily developed a standalone programme and rolled this out across the nation. This would have been the way we previously would have executed on an ambition. However, in building this programme we have worked differently – standing behind Di Somerville and her Regional Pitchfest idea and supporting her to scale whilst tipping in the things Australia Post does so well – front line engagement with a huge and passionate workforce, scale across the whole nation, capability build and building connections with the cohort and beyond. The programme has been magic and this really has come from us all doing what we do best and trusting each other to work to a shared goal. What this has taught me is that we need to embrace true collaboration across corporate, start up, small business and community – and by doing this, it allows us all to stand taller and dream bigger.

5.  There is a blurring between entrepreneurship, start-ups and small business – and this is a good thing!

I was asked many times who this programme was for – start-ups, entrepreneurs, small businesses, sole operators, hobbyists – and my answer was – YES! This programme was for all Regional Australians who had a business or an idea they wanted to explore and grow. This meant we had a hugely diverse and highly engaged cohort. I firmly believe all the definitions above don’t mean as much as we think they do and we put too much effort into creating a label and ‘differentiating’ and not enough into helping in the areas that are common – building communities of support, stress testing ideas, mentorship, sponsorship and advisory, funding, eCommerce capability build, digital capability – the list goes on. This inclusive programme means that all those involved learned from and with each other and we were able to build the capability for all who needed it in these communities – they belong because they want to succeed – not because of a label we put on them.

 My final learning was just how much opportunity there is in Regional Australia and I am keen to engage with others who want to contribute to the success of these people behind the businesses – they have so much going for them and it is an honour and pleasure to help them thrive!