Migrant Women's Micro Business Program

Getting Started!

The Migrant Women's Micro Business Program supports un- and underemployed women with migrant and refugee backgrounds living in Lakemba, NSW to develop a business idea and start a micro business.


The project is delivered by Sydney Community College in partnership with Canterbury City Community Centre and is funded by the Adult and Community Education Unit (ACE).

Developing a new business is fraught with pitfalls for those not well apprenticed in local practices. To gain the skills and knowledge needed to develop a compliant, successful and sustainable micro business, program participants will complete a Certificate III Micro Business Operations course over a 10 month period. To provide maximum support for participants, the program includes not only face-to-face training, but also group and individual mentoring, and English language, literacy and numeracy support.

Extensive community consultation was undertaken to inform the design of the program. We have now enrolled participants from countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Tonga, and Sudan. 

Their micro business interests are as diverse as their backgrounds and include:

• online commerce and import/export of goods such as clothes, jewelry, accessories, homewards, and healthcare and beauty products
• tutoring, catering and food production, gardening, sewing/dressmaking, and floristry services 
• designing and producing new product lines (e.g. jewelry, stationery and greeting cards).

 The program team members look forward to the challenges and successes of the next 10 months!  So, let’s meet the team!  Click on their names to learn about who they are and what they do when they’re not working on this program.

Left-right:  Joanna Maxwell, lead trainer, creative thinking and  small business expert. Lance Scoular, social media trainer/guru. Anna Francis:  specialist ELLN trainer.

Kate McLean, 4C's Community Development Worker. Ramana Waseem, Student Support Worker. Tonya Cook-Pedersen, Project Manager/Mentor Coordinator and Business Development Consultant.

We start next week (28^th February 2012) so we’ll keep you posted on our progress.