Finding out about the Spark Program via the Hub Australia e-News after attending a lot of Hub Adelaide events at the beginning of the year was very exciting.  I booked into the information session as soon as I saw the email, it was something that couldn’t be turned down.  And after attending the information session about the program there was no doubt I was going to apply!

I was glad when Hub Adelaide made the application process for the Spark Program very easy and not too time consuming.  As I was already operating my business and was quite time poor, this was very suitable to me.

There were 4 parts to the application, none of which involved a lot of paper work or writing which I was glad about!  We got to make a one minute video with a short and sweet explanation of our business or business idea we would be working on within the program as well as ourselves and our more personal background.

One of the other part involved writing a cover letter including why were were suited to the program and what we hoped to get out of it.  The next part was the create a timeline of when we hoped to achieve our goals by throughout the program.Finally we had an interview with Jemma Schilling the first Business Catalyst at Hub Adelaide as well as Imogen Coles the Program Director from Hub Melbourne and a previous participant from the summer young entrepreneurs program.

I was quite nervous at this interview however was made felt very comfortable and loved the interesting questions they had prepared for me!  The selection process was also very quick from the information session to commencing the program as it would’ve only been a couple of weeks at most.

Working from Hub Adelaide has introduced me to potential collaborative partners, some of which we are already starting to work on programs and events with.  It has also educated me more about the co-working movement and through attending events has also taught me more about the start-up culture and networks in Adelaide especially.  It’s great to work with people in all different industries and learn from those who have been before you.

Meeting with and talking to mentors is very beneficial, I believe you need someone to be the keeper and communicator of that vision, a key mentor can be useful for this.  Also meeting with multiple mentors who work in many industries with different skill sets is so valuable.  I believe it is crucial to invest in my education therefore during my time left in the Young Entrepreneur Spark Program at Hub Adelaide I intend to take full advantage of the mentors available to me.

Written by Jessica Perry, Lead Facilitator, CareerBluePrint.