Marcus Butler
20 July 2017: Developing, encouraging and growing socially focused enterprises is the core business of a social entrepreneurial accelerator founded at the University of Canberra.
The concept, known as The Mill House, led by Social Impact Strategist Cindy Mitchell launched this month and already has 21 companies and individuals working to turn big ideas into business ventures.
Ms Mitchell says some of the participants have commercial ideas, but plenty of them envisage launching a not-for-profit enterprise, which she says is just as important.
“We’re currently calling for expressions of interest for people with a concept to get involved in the accelerator program. We’ll be providing mentoring, training opportunities and the chance to network with people in a similar situation to share their learning experiences along the way,” she said.
The Mill House is the next step towards Ms Mitchell’s goal of setting up a social enterprise hub in Canberra, engaging a wide range of collaborators and contributors.
“The name Mill House refers to the mills which were the original cooperative organisations, where farmers came together to use a shared resource and turn their grain to flour to sell on as a value added commodity.
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Cindy Mitchell is a social impact strategist and is leading the University's Mill House social entrepreneurial accelerator program. Photo: Kim Pham
“The project started out as a collaboration between the University of Canberra, the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN) and Service One Banking. But we’re becoming something far bigger than any of these organisations probably could have planned individually.
“We focus on educating people about starting up an enterprise – but we’re not just for university students. We are based in Canberra – but our reach will extend beyond the city. And our participants may have an idea that will be a commercial success – but some will judge success by the number of people benefitted rather than profits,” she said.
The accelerator is located on campus, close to the Entry 29 co-working space, E29@UC, which Ms Mitchell said it’s a good starting point for the venture.
“The University is really becoming a hub of start-ups and growing businesses. We’re seizing on the entrepreneurial spirit and expertise of students and staff.”
As well as reaching out for people with ideas to develop, Ms Mitchell and colleagues are also very keen to hear from people and businesses who would like to get on board as investors and financial backers for the entrepreneurs.
“The UC Foundation is our giving partner in this project, collecting and managing donations from the public and business community.
“We’re aiming to provide each of the start-ups with up to $25,000 in seed funding and training to get their concept from idea to the real world”.
