Should YOU Wait For Funding?

At 25, I started my engineering company. At 28, I completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors 5-day Immersive Course in Dubbo. It was 2012 and I was a baby-faced aspirational wanna-be-director stepping into the classroom. It was a huge investment and I laboured over the decision for many weeks. The price point was a barrier because as a new business owner, there is a limited budget for learning and development (like none), and we often prefer to put our profit back into growing the business, rather than spending money on ourselves.

I have been inundated with messages, calls and emails from women asking if there is any funding for the course that runs from the 11th to 15th September 2023. It breaks my heart. I havent found any.

Should you wait for a scholarship in 2024? Only you can answer that.

Priced at just over $9000 ex GST, it is a big decision. While the price tag suggests it is a cost, it might be worthwhile talking about the importance of the investment and the value. It is, after all, a decision to strengthen the governance of your organisation, and it is an investment in yourself.

How many times have you seen a business owner, team leader (or a parent) forget to put on their own oxygen mask, first?

We see it as an investment in your education to strengthen your own business and position yourself for board roles.

The question I am being asked is: "Should I wait for a scholarship?"...

To my knowledge, there are 30 scholarships offered each year by The?Australian Institute of Company Directors?(AICD) with support from the?Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women. The criteria for selection includes applicants who reflect the diversity of Australia’s population and they encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, culturally diverse women, women with disability and those in the not-for-profit sector to apply.

Due to the overwhelming number of applications last year, there were delays to the announcement, and they have not reopened scholarships for 2024. I have not seen if this program will be funded under a new Labor Government.

Only you can determine if you will be a candidate for a scholarship or other source of funding, and we hope more funding opportunities become available soon.

So, should you wait? Or, should you invest?

First, let me be clear that the price will prevent many not-for-profit and marginalised leaders from completing the course, and that is a problem. If you run a not-for-profit or meet diversity criteria, please contact the AICD directly to advocate for more scholarships.

If you run a for-profit-business or aspire to leadership roles, advisory boards and directorships, then perhaps consider the value of the investment, and the multi-decade impact it will have on your own career advancement, regional Australia, and your team, as it has had on my own journey.

In the NSW Skills Board meeting this week, we toured the Meadowbank Institute Of Applied Technology, which is an outcome of the Shergold-Gonski Report. Thanks to my foundational education, I was accepted to serve on the James Martin Institute for Public Policy Board alongside Peter Shergold (Yikes! My dream Chair). During the tour, one of my fellow Directors said:

"You can never pour too much education into your community"

The Exchange Group purchases the AICD Company Directors Course and brings it to Dubbo because we know how important it is to have this level of Director Education out here - face to face - with discussions that are nuanced with regional/rural/remote contexts.

We believe that we are strengthening society by bringing world-class governance education to people - out here. We love that people don't travel to Sydney, and they have conversations with like-minded regional leaders.

Completing the course gave me the opportunity to meet leaders in Dubbo who are still in my life (over a decade later).

Completing the course gave me the opportunity to serve as a Director of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Foundation and helped me feel confident in front of our Chairman John B Fairfax and Michael Millner.

Michael Millner went on to write my letter of recommendation to 美国斯坦福大学 after I was rejected from 美国哈佛商学院 and 美国麻省理工学院 - 斯隆管理学院 . Thanks, Michael :)

Last year, I had the most rewarding and fulfilling opportunity of my life, appointed by the Treasurer of NSW to support the Women's Economic Opportunity Statement which introduced a number of childcare and preschool reforms and subsidies. I was a voice for regional NSW, bringing concerns and issues to the table. Serving others is something I am able to do, but being selected to serve is something I needed to be qualified for. I truly hope that the more leaders we have out here with the qualifications, the more voices we will have in the "room where it happens" in the future.

I am no longer a baby-faced engineer but speaking truthfully, I still feel awkward hearing my own bio read out at speaking engagements. I have no regrets about pushing my financial limits investing in my education over a decade ago, and I wish I could wind-back the clock and tell that engineer in the wheat field that you have to put on your own oxygen mask first.