Innovation and enterprise sector in the spotlight in Advertiser/Flinders University’s Fearless Conversations series | Watch a full replay
SA’s chief entrepreneur says the state is becoming the start-up and innovation capital, but there’s one thing missing. Watch a full replay of the Fearless Conversations live chat.
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South Australia is well on its way to becoming the start-up and innovation capital of the country, according to the state’s chief entrepreneur, but bringing in more venture capital and other investors remains a key priority.
Speaking at a Fearless Conversations forum on innovation and enterprise hosted by The
Advertiser and Flinders University on Wednesday, Andrew Nunn said a lack of funding options for local start-ups was limiting their ability to scale and grow.
“We need to think about how we align more capital into the system – where we drop some more money in and where we help get businesses going,” he said.
“I think fundamentally we need some patient risk capital – we need people to put money into advancing start-ups and not expecting an immediate return straight away, but accepting that the nature of start-ups is that they take a while to get going and once they get going they fly.
“It’s a different investment model but we need to get more mature as a state and as a nation about investing in those sorts of things.”
Mr Nunn, who chairs the Entrepreneurship Advisory Board (EAB), said a sub-committee had been established to investigate ways to get more investors into the system.
“Part of the work we’re doing at the EAB is looking at how we get some seed money – I think government has a role in supporting some of that but I don’t think government has a role in funding every business to scale – it’s about finding that balance,” he said.
“I’m hoping out of this sub-committee that’s looking at capital injection for the eco-system that we come out with an outcome where we work with government to develop a way of bringing in a lot more venture money and a lot more private money into the eco-system to support all these businesses.”
Mr Nunn was joined on the forum panel by MyBudget founding director Tammy Barton, Taboo Period Products co-founder Eloise Hall and Professor Melissa de Zwart, a specialist in digital technology, security and governance at Flinders University’s Jeff Bleich Centre.
Ms Hall and business partner Isobel Marshall raised $56,000 via a crowdfunding campaign in 2018 to get their social enterprise off the ground, with the aim of eradicating “period poverty” and ensuring all women and girls had access to pads and tampons.
While ongoing revenue from the sale of period products would continue to support Taboo’s social cause, Ms Hall said there was a role for both the private and public sectors to play in supporting social enterprises.
“Funding’s still something we would appreciate and we’re having constant conversations with government and industry leaders to nut out why and how we can support social enterprise better so we can all achieve that social reward together,” she said.
Extended coverage of the Fearless Conversation on innovation and enterprise will feature in the Sunday Mail on October 24.
How SA can become an innovation powerhouse
Lot Fourteen places Adelaide on the world innovation map, but more still needs to be done to open up the North Terrace hub for SA’s next crop of business achievers.
That’s the view of the state’s chief entrepreneur Andrew Nunn, who said the research and innovation precinct at the former Royal Adelaide Hospital site would result in rich rewards.
“Turning that seven hectares on North Terrace into an innovation and entrepreneur centre is a game-changer for us globally,” he said. “We don’t realise it fully yet though, because probably only four years ago you could have had your appendix out there.
“I’m really conscious that Lot Fourteen is for everyone ... so we need to spend a lot more time bringing more people into it. It’s been a bit of a construction zone but over the course of the next 12 months we really need to just open that place up to make everyone feel like it’s their place, where ‘If I’ve got an idea I can go there and people will help me develop it’.”
Mr Nunn said Adelaide – which he described as being “on the precipice of being the most awesome city in the world” – was the perfect city to launch a start-up company.
“It’s big enough to give you some scale and capacity ... but I think it’s biggest strength is its interconnection, that very small degree of separation.”
His view is shared by Taboo Period Products’ Eloise Hall, who – along with Walford College schoolmate Isobel Marshall – established a menstrual health social enterprise in 2016 in a bid to eradicate “period poverty” and ensure all women and girls had access to pads and tampons.
“Adelaide is a wonderful size where people are relatively well connected, and if you’re very passionate about something, there are a lot who can help you out in introducing you to the right people,” she said.
“And it’s not too small that you don’t really have a market to grow into – it’s that perfect Goldilocks-size of encouraging innovation and letting it flourish.”
Mr Nunn and Ms Hall are among a panel of experts who will look at the big issues in the state’s innovation and enterprise sector in the ninth Flinders University Fearless Conversations forum, to be held this week. The 13-week campaign, in partnership with The Advertiser, brings together leading South Australian voices to discuss some of the big issues facing the state.
Other industry figures involved in Wednesday’s 45-minute discussion – to be hosted by business reporter Joe Tauriello – include MyBudget founding director Tammy Barton and Flinders University Professor Melissa de Zwart.
Issues on the agenda will include seed funding, the importance of networks and alliances, building resilience when things don’t go to plan and post-Covid opportunities.
Streamed live on advertiser.com.au every Wednesday from 10.30am, the series encourages the community to engage in the debate about SA’s future. Questions can be submitted through advertiser.com.au or on Twitter via #fearlessconversations
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