Last night I attended the first birthday celebration of the Central Victorian Business Network (CVBN), a local network designed to help Bendigo and Central Victoria (approx. 100,000 people) use the skills and knowledge it has rather than import it. This was the first CVBN event that I had been to.
I was impressed. There was a very positive feeling in the room and people were genuinely interested in how to help each other be more successful. I met some great people which I knew I would.
270 attendees representing about 50 companies. 30 more turned away on the day. I can’t imagine such a network getting started in a city like Melbourne (approx. 3 million people) because it is too dispersed for a core group to form. Yet for Bendigo it’s perfect.
Rob Hunt, director of the Bendigo Bank spoke of how a community serving itself can only become stronger. Something I’m very much aware of but haven’t been able to put so eloquently. The Bendigo Bank is well known Australia wide for helping communities create their own bank when the big corporate banks pulled out because they were unprofitable. We were told how two communities with populations of 500 and 600 formed a community bank which now generates $70K profit a year).