News Alert |
Explore Councils by state
What do you get when you send a Ballarat entrepreneur to the NEZUS Nanjing-Victoria StartUp Summit in China?
The answer: An opportunity to pitch to Chinese venture capitalists.
Local founder and CEO of Next Address, Julie O’Donohue, will have this opportunity when she travels to China for the summit later this month.
It’s all part of StartUp Ballarat business program.
The City of Ballarat is a partner in the StartUp Ballarat business program, which helps community members with an entrepreneurial idea to develop it into a successful business.
Joining Julia in China is Deputy Mayor Jim Rinaldi and a council officer who were invited to accompany City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp and LaunchVic – the State Government's business and industry development agency – as part of an official senior delegation.
The delegation will also attend the Shenzhen Smart Cities Forum and the Victoria-Jiangsu Sister State Anniversary Summit.
Cr Rinaldi and a council officer will leave for China on 12 May, with Julie due to depart the following day.
Want to find out how Ballarat is set to benefit from the visit? Take a look here.
Quotes attributable to Deputy Mayor Cr Jim Rinaldi:
“Not only does this delegation open avenues to support more local entrepreneurs and technology businesses to access Chinese investment and export opportunities, but it helps promote Ballarat as an investment and tourist destination, and an innovation and creative city leader.
It also positions us to pursue the opportunity to host the 2020 NEXUS summit, which is calculated to provide an economic return of $11,000 to our city.”