John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I was very pleased to join recently with Joy Taylor and David Masefield of Canvas Coworking and Startup Toowoomba to announce funding support under the federal government's Entrepreneurs Program for their innovative FLAIR program—Female Led Aspiring International Regional business incubator. This four-month program will support five female-led start-up businesses in our region to aspire to trade internationally and deliver goods and services which help traditional industry across Australia. This will be a hybrid delivery program, offering support in person and virtually to overcome barriers to participation.

World-class entrepreneur-in-residence Ian Mason has been engaged, and the FLAIR incubator cohort will be supported by more than 50 mentors from across the world, who will address and represent multiple industry sectors.

I've been a long term supporter of Canvas Coworking and Startup Toowoomba. They do fantastic work in supporting our region's future entrepreneurs during this critical startup phase. Toowoomba and the Darling Downs have a proud history of successful, resilient and diverse small businesses, and we all know that all small businesses were once startups. They play a critical role in our economy, especially as we recover from the economic impacts of COVID-19. I congratulate Joy, David and their team.

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