Entrepreneurship Advisory Board welcomes new members

The state’s Entrepreneurship Advisory Board has been refreshed with new members with a diverse skill set.

Serial entrepreneur Marty Gauvin has joined the EAB.

THE state’s Entrepreneurship Advisory Board has welcomed four new members with skills ranging across cloud technology, the not-for-profit sector and venture capital investing.

Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni will announced today that the new members are:

Andrew Nunn - co-founder and director of environmental consultancy JBS&G

Paul Edginton - outgoing Service to Youth Council chief executive and chair of online wine retailer Vinomofo

Chris Liu - an investor and advisor for Horizon Ventures, and

Marty Gauvin - chief executive of Virtual Ark and Mr Gauvin pictured, was formerly managing director of Hostworks.

The new appointees joint the chief entrepreneur Jim Whalley on the board, along with Suntrix managing director Jenny Paradiso, Fleet Space Technologies chief executive Flavia Tata Nardini, Convergen founder Anton Andreacchio, and Hen House Co-Op and experienced director and consultant Moira Were.

Service to Youth Council chief executive Paul Edginton.

The unpaid board has advised the government on its Future Industries eXchange for Entrepreneurship (FIXE) strategy, which aims to achieve outcomes such as increasing the amount of risk capital deployed in South Australia, bolstering entrepreneurship education in schools and fostering an attractive and supportive environment to attract and grow scalable, fast-growth companies.

Mr Whalley, co-founder of defence contractor Nova Systems, said he was looking forward to working with the new board.

“The high calibre of these appointments is testament to the momentum already building here in South Australia—it’s an attractive place to work and an exciting start-up, business and research ecosystem to be a part of,” Mr Whalley said.

SA's chief entrepreneur Jim Whalley.

The State Government also announced the relaunch of the FIXE website.

Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said the start-up community had been consulted, and its feedback informed the newest iteration of the portal for businesses operating in and looking to set up in SA.

“Start-ups called for a central place – a spot – to access events, support and make connections,’’ Mr Pisoni said.

“The website now has a comprehensive start-up directory, and I encourage businesses to make sure you are ‘spotted’ by creating an account and start making connections.

There was also information on events and the state’s innovation precincts.