2022 | Issue 5 | SJC Newsletter

On Wednesday 23 March, our Westcourt Millionaire 101 students led by Mr O’Connor and Mrs McKew participated in an excursion to the Federal Mills precinct and Pakington Street. Students were able to experience how businesses are run first hand. We learned that in order to make a business there are certain values and commitments that you need in order to succeed. These consist of determination, risk taking, use of opportunity and innovation. We visited three businesses at the Federal Mills precinct, including Sanitex Global, Café 1915 and Anther Distillery. We were warmly welcomed by Old cCollegian James Fatone and his team in the impressive upstairs space at Café 1915. The Founder and CEO of Sanitex Global, David Collard called us live from New York. David Collard is a Manhattan-based global business executive and turnaround business strategist who runs companies that operate in both the public and private sectors across multiple industries producing innovative solutions and commodities for the B2C, B2B and B2G markets. David shared his story and what has led to his success as an entrepreneur. He encouraged us to make use of life opportunities and face challenges with courage and positivity. David shared with us how the occurrence of COVID-19 led to starting a successful business called Sanitex Global. David also introduced his new battery business idea, which is expected to be stationed in Geelong. We also learned how long it takes to start a business and that the more effort you put into your business the more successful it will be. We met another team member from Sanitex, COL (R) Hay. David Hay has had a distinguished career in the Australian Defence Force, where he served as an Army officer in a variety of roles both internationally and throughout Australia. He has over 30 years of experience in telecommunications and IT security, in fixed and mobile environments including on operations in Cambodia, East Timor, Bosnia/Kosovo and the Middle East. We also visited and had informative tours from Café 1915 and Anther Distillery. We enjoyed lunch in Pakington Street and collected data from a range of different types of businesses. Local Business owners shared what the day-to-day life of running a business is like, from what opening hours to work and the type of marketing to use. All in all, it was a great day and the students of both classes look forward to more opportunities like this in the future.