It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet some of our new members at the National Conference. What stood out to me was the passionate and welcoming nature of so many of the delegates and the willingness to impart their business experiences and tricks of their trade to other family businesses. Highlights for me included the site visit to O’Reilly’s vineyard (Jane is on the QLD committee so I was very keen to see her vineyard and listen to their story) as well as speaker Brad Smith from Braaap Motorcycles – what an inspirational story teller and entrepreneur. If only I could have achieved half as much in my life at his age!

You would think that we would have had our hands full with National Conference last month however August in QLD was business as usual, with the running of 2 key events alongside the Sunshine and Gold Coast Chambers of Commerce, as well as a new and exciting calendar of events on offer.

With the Sunshine Coast still an untapped market for FBA, we were happy to feature as the key lunch time speaker at the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce networking event on August 4. Presenting a panel style discussion entitled: “Are you a family business or a family in business”, Andrew Barter from Tough Problem moderated the discussion, with Roz Shaw, Jane O’Reilly and Amanda Innes, all providing their thought provoking and comical insights on their experiences in their family businesses.

On the southern end of the coast, FBA QLD and KPMG was one of 50 exhibitors at the Gold Coast local business expo organised by the Chamber of Commerce. Jennine Tax from KPMG also spoke at the expo on succession planning in a family business. Although FBA is already known on the Coast, it is important to keep branding and educating in the area and the expo provided a great opportunity to do this.

In other news, the QLD committee has approved the introduction of 6 new events which we roll out over the next 12 months: a combination of meet the owner events, and panel style discussions. These are in addition to our 3 Chairman’s lunches annually, and our state conference. Look out for our updated calendar in the next few months, and as always our monthly emails will also provide you with key dates for forthcoming events.

FBA QLD in September:

September 9

Understanding family business – transition and governance
Bill Noye KPMG
Monaco, Caloundra

September 11

Next Gen FBA Drinks
All Welcome
Stingray Bar, Surfers Paradise

To register for any or all of these events please go to the Family Business website: www.fambiz.com.au

Until next month!

Martine Poulain
Queensland State Manager