Letter of Support Request - Ver 1.0 - Platypus Country

Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business Grant Round 2 – South East Savvy bid
Letter of Support Request - Ver 1.0
Hello.
I am writing to request a letter of support for a special grant application we are submitting
for a small business enterprise (SME) training and mentoring project here in the South
East funded under the Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business Grant Round 2 from
the Australian Government.
The project is designed to educate and support SMEs about all available IT solutions to
develop or improve their business and their business networks. Our focus will be on
alternative agriculture, the Arts, Complimentary and Alternatve Medicine (CAM) and raising
our regional business profile as a clean and healthy community as a tourism destination
and exporter.
We found out about this grant only recently so your urgent attention is appreciated.
If you think you could help us with a short letter of support please read the project notes
below and you will find some suggested text at the very bottom of this letter in bold.
In anticipation,
Thank you very much.
return all correspondence
on a letterhead or just as an email letter to
Geoffrey Grigg
6492 5550
geoffreygrigg@thebegavalley.com
by 5pm Tuesday 21st November.
=====================
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Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business Grant Round 2 – South East Savvy bid
Letter of Support Request - Ver 1.0
What is the name of the Bid?
South East Savvy -
Who are the Project Partners?
A local consortium generally under the Australian Community Network (AustCom) banner
made up of members of the Bombala CTC, the Platypus Country community website
(http://platypuscountry.org), The Bega Valley Network Inc. under the Bega Valley
community website (http://thebegavalley.com) and the newly formed Eurobodalla
community website (http://eurobodalla.org.au) and it's pioneers. The peak national
website for this broad network is http://australiancommunities.org.au
We are all not-for-profit, locally incorporated bid partners. Selected local trainers and
business and volunteer mentors will be contracted to the project. Project management will
be on a fee for service basis by the community groups and their employees.
What is the object of the bid?
In the first year, the project will generate and provide a wide array of information to small
business enterprises (SMEs) about IT products and services they might use to develop or
improve their businesses.
In the second year, selected SMEs will be closely mentored to explore and integrate the
best IT solutions on offer for their business. These solutions cover specific IT tools,
marketing networks and small business infrastructures. Thus we intend to make the
selected SMEs successful using IT solutions tailored for their business.
contd...
Even though we represent a specific community web network, SMEs all over the region
already use an array of IT tools. We will present all of them fairly for appraisal. It is up to
the SMEs, trainers and mentors to evaluate the best for their business. In this sense an
object of the bid is to strengthen our own community network by considering all possible IT
options of practical benefit for the whole community (NFP and business alike).
Our Two Key Strategic Advantages
Our primary strategic advantage for the SMEs is that we already have the regional
community website network as an intranet and a local, regional, national and international
marketing network in place to support the project among the options they might use wholly
or in part. Our community network is fully inclusive of all IT solution possibilities and we
gain strength from the IT industry as a whole. Our diversity is our strength.
Our second advantage is that we are uniquely placed to provide a regional problem
solving perspective. We have local knowledge, the locally developed support and sales
network and Australian Government support through Ausindustry and the Bega Export Hub
to supply national and export marketing networks.
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Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business Grant Round 2 – South East Savvy bid
Letter of Support Request - Ver 1.0
What is the Target Area?
The Bega Valley, Eurobodalla and Bombala Local Government Areas.
How will we work across the vast distances?
A series of locally developed seminars will be conducted in the major regional centres. For
the second year mentoring phase, our own IT intranet can in part support close contact
across large distances (eg VOIP and email lists).
Our proposal covers business people in the Bega Valley, Bombala and Eurobodalla
Shires. We understand a bid is in place by the BEC in Cooma and we hope to integrate
their activity with ours. By working together we all benefit.
How will we plan and implement such a large project?
There are many taleneted individuals on the region who are capable of delivering such a
venture. In large part, the year one training phase will be managed by Ian Sellers at the
Bombala CTC and the year two mentoring phase will be managed across the entire group
headed up by Darcy Llewellyn. The project funds will be managed by the Bombala CTC.
Who are the ideal businesses (SMEs)
Ideal participants will be young, home based and capable of growth as individual
businesses and as part of a regional network.
As stated we are focussing on alternative agriculture, complimentary and alternatve
medicine (CAM), the Arts and raising our regional business profile as a lively, clean and
healthy destination and exporter.
Your support will identify to the funding body, as we have, that our community needs this
regional IT education and mentoring service and the economic impact it will make locally in
all sectors of our community.
Who will the project benefit?
Many people will benefit from the project. All year one seminar attendees will gain a
deeper understanding of IT options in their business mix.
In the second year champions will be nurtured in an IT glasshouse and a highly active
network. The benefits must flow on to the whole community because they, and the wider
world, are the market.
The additional attention this project will give to IT in the region will help the whole
community consider their options for using more IT in their activity mix.
As the most active IT trainer in the region we are uniquely placed to identify the IT needs
of the community (NFP and SMEs) and we have already seen the impact our community
website network has made in only two years.
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Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business Grant Round 2 – South East Savvy bid
Letter of Support Request - Ver 1.0
How will the Project succeed?
Project success will be derived from the efficient delivery of the training and mentoring
program in the first instance.
Also, success in business is infectious and in our community success can be helped by
our communities who often reach a critical mass of support for long term and popular
projects. This can be demonstrated in many ways locally.
Our huge local network, active relationship with the Bega Export Hub and a highly
supportive web community is the ideal family to spread a successful message, product or
service locally and to the world.
By focussing, as we have, on emerging 'healthy' industries, in which there are already
many players, we are selling more than products or services through IT - we are selling a
whole region as well, from the mountains to the sea. We are selling a region.
Finally, as a whole culture and community, we promote and sell a clean and healthy life,
and in this modern world that timely quality is in great demand. This project will transfer
that quality to IT resources, products and services to develop and improve our local SMEs.
==================================
Please help us now by sending back a letter of support by Tuesday 21st November
return all correspondence
on a letterhead or just as an email letter to
Geoffrey Grigg
6492 5550
geoffreygrigg@thebegavalley.com
by 5pm Tuesday 21st November
+==================================
We suggest you may like to write something like ...
"We support the "South East Savvy" bid for a Building Entrepreneurship in Small
Business Grant Round 2 (BESB R2). We believe the project will develop and grow
local small business success using IT solutions learned and mentored over the two
year project. We will do what we can to support the project as it develops."
You may like to add an additional comment about how you think it will benefit the region or
particular business people or industries you know.
Thank You again.
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