By Ewen McRae
Brimbank plans to become the home of many business success stories, following the opening of a business development and education hub in Sunshine.
The iHarvest business development hub and Brimbank Learning Futures educational development hub will be housed at the Brimbank Community and Civic Centre and the nearby Visy Cares Hub, and will allow for new start-ups and small business to have a dedicated space to work.
The $2.7 million redevelopments of the centres were unveiled recently, with Victorian senator Janet Hume on hand to launch the facility.
The project redeveloped the fourth level of the Brimbank Community and Civic Centre to create a business development hub and refurbished the ground floor of the Visy Cares Hub facility to create an education development hub.
“These new facilities provide impressive contemporary work spaces for small businesses, while supporting business mentoring programs, masterclasses, workshops and networking,” Senator Hume said.
“They also enable the development of partnerships and programs to support young people and others in the Brimbank community to access further education and training.”
The iHarvest hub will provide sit-stand desks, meeting rooms, printing and scanning facilities and high-speed broadband to support small businesses.
The new Brimbank Learning Futures facilities include formal and informal learning spaces, IT training suites, creative corners, an auditorium, a careers counselling room and other amenities.
Brimbank mayor Lucinda Congreve said the business hub was an innovative approach to benefit the community.
“The Brimbank Learning Futures supports vulnerable community members with pathways to education, training and employment, while iHarvest Coworking Sunshine is a vibrant and affordable co-working space for start-ups, entrepreneurs, freelancers and small business,” Cr Congreve said.
“Thanks to these new facilities, members of our community can lay the foundation of their successful start-up business.”
The project was jointly funded with the federal government investing $1,119,517 and the council $1,567,323.
