Adelaide to strut its stuff for Entrepreneurs’ Week 2015

Entrepreneurs from around Australia will flock to Adelaide next week as part of the city’s commitment to becoming a startup hot-spot.

Entrepreneur’s Week 2015 is a collaboration between the Adelaide Entrepreneurship Forum, Brand South Australia, Adelaide City Council, the state government and a range of stakeholders.

The festival aims to showcase South Australia’s startup ecosystem and provide budding entrepreneurs with the resources and networks to start their own business.

Paul Daly, convenor of the Adelaide Entrepreneurship Forum, said in a statement Adelaide is the perfect place to host a startup festival due to the city’s small but active community of tech-enabled businesses.

“There’s a fair bit in place but there’s a whole lot of new things starting up,” he says.

“At the G20 Young Entrepreneurs summit in Sydney we were cited as the city that had the best co-ordinated approach to entrepreneurs. And at the moment I think we’re on the cusp of some really exciting things – there’s certainly advantages to the size of Adelaide. It’s a cohesive community and you can trial new businesses at reasonable costs and take feedback before launching nationally or internationally.”

Daly says promoting the local startup community helps everyone from investors to other stakeholders feel part of a larger ecosystem.

“Traditional industries are under real pressure – the closure of Holden is a dark cloud over the state,” he says.

“You begin to realise people developing new businesses focused on the future are the future of Adelaide and South Australia.”

“There are 95 programs available to South Australian entrepreneurs – a few driven by government, others by universities and many by entrepreneurs themselves,” he says.

“These include accelerator programs to help bring new products to market, co-working spaces that encourage collaboration and business support to help grow new businesses. Entrepreneurship is thriving in Adelaide, which is a very good sign for the economy.”

Entrepreneurs’ Week will also include the second SouthStart 2015 conference, with speakers such as Shark Tank investor Stephen Baxter and OneShift founder Gen George.

Chhai Thach, event founder and director of Adelaide’s first co-working space Majoran Distillery, previously told StartupSmart SouthStart will be about showcasing local startups and encouraging locals to come up with great business ideas.

“We want them to come and connect with the local community here,” he says.

“The more people that know about startups and get excited, the more people will get interested and inspired to start something new this year.”

Entrepreneurs’ Week 2015 will run from February 2-6.

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