Innovators put case to investors

Businesses shine at ideas festival

MERYL Eddie and husband Craig have considered diversifying their Roma-based business Boobook for years.

Having established a strong holding in the niche market, running ecological tours and working as environmental consultants in the Maranoa region for the past 20 years, expanding to more diverse industries seemed the next step.

Mrs Eddie last week was one of 10 business owners from the region to pitch their business concepts at the Myriad Festival in Brisbane which hosted some of the biggest global innovation leaders and investors, thinkers and entrepreneurs.

And it was that audience Mrs Eddie was keen to meet and, in the long-term, secure a corporate partner to bolster the ongoing ecological tours and conservation while expanding Boobook’s research element.

“Diversification of our business is something we’ve thought about doing for many years but never really put the time into. That was our focus in coming here,” she said.

“We’re not necessarily looking for investors but corporate partners who may be wanting to participate with what we’re doing if they’re interested and want to do something good for the environment.”

Boobook was one of 10 businesses from the Toowoomba, Maranoa, Western Downs and Goondiwindi regions selected to attend the Myriad Festival supported by the State Government’s Advancing Regional Innovation Program.

Delivered locally through Food Leaders Australia, regional innovation co-ordinator Julia Telford said the festival was a chance for businesses to showcase their innovation and advances to bigger metro audiences, investors and influencers.

“Regionally we all know each other, which is good, but what we need to do is build our networks with investors, computer programmers, that really don’t exist now in our communities,” she said.