Official Launch of Worknext Job Placement Service
The Official Launch of the new commercial of Catherine House arm took place on 29 September 2011 in the Committee Room of Adelaide Oval. The group of 81 prominent guests included representatives of the corporate sector, philanthropic institutions, small business, as well as, individual investors who were interested to hear about our new innovative social business.
It was historic, highly memorable, day for Catherine House.
Catherine House was very privileged to have Senator the Hon. Penny Wong warmly, and very generously, host the event. Our guest speaker MichaelTrail AM, Founding CE of Social Ventures Australia (SVA), shared his thoughts on the current social investment landscape and cutting-edge approaches to the effective development of social businesses, such as WorkNext. He also expressed his personal interest and keen support for our new business venture.
Table Hosts
Our outstanding table hosts helped to make the event such a great success:
· David Burgess, Senior Private Client Advisor, Macquarie Private Wealth
· Elaine Golding, Director Momentum Organisational Solutions
· Allan Holmes, Chief Executive – Dept. for Environment and Natural Resources
· Kathryn House, Communications Manager - Gleneagles/Monreith Aged Care Facility
· Mark Phelps, Partner Assurance - Ernst & Young
· Kathryn Presser, Chief Financial Officer - Beach Energy Ltd.
· Stuart Price, Chief Executive Officer - Kelly & Co
Each table host gave real consideration about who to invite and as a result we had a very interesting and eclectic group of guests that meant we had high levels of positive energy and lively discussion happening in the room. This then translated into us receiving expressions of interest for follow up meetings with 52% of the guests.
Thanks goes to our very generous and supportive Launch sponsor Beach Energy Ltd(Beach). Beach was proud to sponsor the program launch, the organization employs 112 people, predominantly in Adelaide, including 32 women. They understand the importance of diversity in the workplace and the immeasurable benefits that work provides to women who have endured homelessness.
As an introduction, Beach is a 50 year old, Adelaide based, oil and gas company, one of the 200 largest companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of approximately $1.2 billion. Their major operations are in the CooperBasin in the remote north of South Australian, crossing into South Western Queensland. Beach was originally founded by Dr Reg Sprigg, one of the pioneers of the CooperBasin. They also have exploration properties in Egypt, Tanzania, Albania, New Zealand and New Guinea.
Beach is an active sponsor of a number of charities and community groups in South Australia and are very pleased to be able to assist with the WorkNext program which promises to bring together the corporate world, social investors, and people in the community with the common goal of helping solve women's homelessness by providing access to real long lasting jobs.
Another delightful aspect to the day was the opportunity to view a very powerfuland moving DVD that had been especially produced, by tav Productions, for the Launch. In the DVD, we heard from five WorkNext job candidates who shared their stories, achievements and hopes for the future.
I sincerely thank Neil Smith and Elaine Golding for volunteering their ideas, time, resources and support and a special thank you to Daniel Hook, who edited the footage and also composed the accompanying music.