Elevate-Celebration of Multicultural Women in Business

The next speaker was Kaitlin Cuell, Project Lead at Service NSW, who discussed how Service NSW supports start-up companies through its initiatives and programmes in NSW. She also spoke about the support and guidance that business relationship analysts offer at every stage, from planning to marketing businesses.

Julia Finn MP Granville, the final keynote speaker, discussed how COVID previously affected small businesses and how current issues like inflation and rising loan rates are confusing small business owners about making investments and purchasing businesses. Therefore, it is essential to look into any possible government grants and support, which are available out there.

By: Rekha Rajvanshi

On July 29, 2023, the Community Migrant Resource Centre hosted an event ‘Elevate – Multicultural Women in Business’ at Novotel Parramatta. The purpose of the event is to highlight the achievements of immigrant and refugee women entrepreneurs and to raise awareness of the support programs CMRC provides through Business Connect program in partnership with Service NSW (a dedicated and personalised NSW government program).

At the beginning of the program, CMRC CEO Melissa Monteiro welcomed guests and attendees, saying that the Elevate Event is an attempt to recognize businesswomen who run small businesses. They were there to showcase their work and share their knowledge with the wider community. Commenting on CMRC’s contribution to new migrants and refugees, she said, “We are a resettlement organisation and we believe that collaboratively we can provide much-needed services to the wider community and develop their skills and self reliance by providing training and support.”

Jodi McKay, the first keynote speaker and current chair of AIBC, highlighted some of her personal experiences and emphasised the value of seeking assistance when necessar-

Next came the ‘Taste for Business’ panel discussion featuring five tenacious businesswomen was next. The panel was made up of Ruby travels Worldwide June Bouche Director , Brand Architect Kristy Chillman, Dream collectives head of sales Yolanda Kerr, social entrepreneur, founder of ‘SLAK