Business development program to support pastoralists

Kimberley pastoralists looking to enhance their business skills with the support of a specialist business mentor and other like-minded producers have been invited to sign up to a new program supported by Meat and Livestock Australia.

MLA has partnered with the Agribusiness Development Institute to launch the Northern Beef Business Mentoring Program.

Using a combination of webinars, teleconferences, workshops and longer term mentoring, the program offers guidance through a structured and focused business change and development process.

ABDI director and program mentor Gordon Stone said the program’s focus was principally around “doing business” rather than “doing production”.

“The business focus is wider than gross margins, succession and livestock profit drivers because it focuses on customer engagement and markets, how to initiate then manage business growth, dealing with the associated risks and more,” he said.

“Initially, businesses will undertake a stocktake to evaluate their current position and identify the key issues in their own businesses, then work collectively on how best to turn around these problems. Participants will be mentored by industry professionals to help them make change happen.”

The program is also based around sharing ideas and experiences with other cattle industry operators, through regular live workshops and interactive programs.

Mr Stone said the webinar/teleconference component was equally as important.

“As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know,” he said.

“These will help provide business owners with more information about the beef marketplace and about best practice business management principles.

“This will help make it easy for them to decide what is missing in their business, how well they are doing and what help they may require.”

The program will roll out in southern Queensland from this month and then into other parts of northern Australia in 2016 and 2017 including the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia.