Elise Sinclair found a lack of young professionals attending networking events – so she created a platform to connect with them. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
The Illawarra’s next generation of emerging entrepreneurs and budding business bigwigs will have the opportunity to foster vital connections with the launch of a network for young professionals.
Networking events in the region have helped expose up-and-coming professionals to a wealth of knowledge, with mentorship opportunities building connections and expertise across a range of industries.
But for 26-year-old marketing professional Elise Sinclair, there was a gap when it came to connecting with her peers.
“At the networking events that I’ve gone to there are these long-standing members of the community,” she said.
“But there’s sort of this separate facet of a younger generation who are really innovative, entrepreneurial, a lot of them have startups of their own, a lot of them are driving change within the organisations – but I don’t tend to see them at a lot of networking events.”
Elise collaborated with Business Illawarra Director Coralie McCarthy to get the idea off the ground in hope of building important links in her network to improve her skills and opportunities by talking to more people around her age and stage of career.
“Maybe the person you should be talking to is someone who has just been through what you’ve been through,” she said.
“There’s so much knowledge that you develop being in business for such a long time, but obviously things move quickly, things that you’ve been through, a process that you’ve been through may be outdated or not relevant.
“Having the currency and having someone who has literally just been through what you are about to go through and identify some things you need to look out for, tips and tricks, I think that’s extremely valuable for anyone who is trying to build something or get somewhere within their organisation.”
Business Illawarra was keen to help foster the new relationships and give further opportunities to the younger cohort.
“They’re our future at the end of the day and also they can teach us a lot,” Coralie said.
“It’s really important to have different perspectives and different ideas as we grow as a region and young people play a really important role in that.”
Although aimed at ‘young professionals’ there’s not a strict age limit on who can get involved, with Elise expecting professionals around 35 years or younger.
“I think it’s about emerging in your field – in that startup phase, people who have just come out of uni and are looking for career guidance and opportunities, or people who are in their organisations at the moment and want some feedback in how they can collaborate in the Wollongong environment.
“As diverse as we can get the group as possible; diversity only strengthens a group.”
The first event is scheduled for Tuesday 22 July from 7:30 – 8:30 am, with hopes that the people involved will help guide the direction of the group.
“We’re going to start off with a meet and greet,” Elise said. “We want to take feedback and ideas into consideration as we build it about what they want to see and what they feel is important as we move into this new phase of Wollongong.”
Through connecting with the peak body, the next generation could help shape the future of the region’s business community.
“I would love to connect to as many people who want to feel part of something bigger because that’s what the chamber is really about, it’s about having a stronger voice together and growing as a region,” Coralie said.
“Success for me would be having engaged people come, having people feel like they are heard, and then for us working out next steps together.”
For more information about the event or to register, visit the Business Illawarra website.
