IF you’re a startup who wants to keep abreast of practical tips on growing your business, then connect with Lucy Lin of Western Sydney University’s Launch Pad.
A marketing expert and a Western Sydney local, Ms Lin has spent two decades mentoring small business owners in Western Sydney, along with her roles at leading universities and corporations.
Last month, Ms Lin and fellow WSU expert mentors facilitated the Fairfield Connect meet-up with local startups providing them with the latest technology to upscale the ways to run their type of business.
“My specialty in marketing for small businesses is to show them how they could attract customers to try their product,” Ms Lin said.
“Basically, it’s to show them strategies to get people buying their product, and how to successfully sell their product so that more customers would come to buy it.
“And more importantly, to show them how to promote themselves to make people buy their products through technology.”
Explaining the methods she and her fellow mentors at the Launch Pad are sharing to ensure their students clearly understood technology “with less jargon” is a technique for what they call “speed mentoring.”
WSU started Launch Pad in 2015 as a technology and innovation mentoring hub to enable new or existing businesses in the region to try new ways of operations as online shopping becomes the norm.
Ms Lin joined Launch Pad appointed by WSU as entrepreneur-in-residence whose target audiences are women and multicultural startups, which are growing in numbers within the region’s business community.
Since the pandemic, online retailing of food and non-food products across the country are continuously rising, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
In the June 2024 quarter alone, compared to same period last year, the ABS online sales latest results showed the popular business activity went up from 11.4 percent to 11.6 percent.
Even on month-to-month basis, the ABS said, online sales usually go up by 0.5 percent though volume may fall as it did in the June 2024 quarter dropping to 0.3 percent.
In her business mentoring role, Ms Lin, who was born in Taipei and migrated to Australia with her parents when she was a baby, became widely known and has been nominated as one of the region’s inspiring women in the 2023 Western Sydney Women Awards.
She is also the host of the Emerging Tech Unpacked podcast that features women working or acquiring further education in STEM fields (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics).
“A lot of startups are scared to try new technologies, they seemed to be scared because they have not understood it well enough,” Ms Lin said.
“That’s why I started this podcast [along with speed mentoring at Launch Pad], with experts talking about impactful topics on technology.
“The workshops will teach them many things about technology use in their personal lives, business and careers.
“By podcasting, I want to make the messaging simple with very little jargon or no jargon at all so startups can understand technology better and not be scared by it.”
For those who prefer the Launch Pd workshops in person, “everyone is welcome to attend,” Ms Lin said.
“The workshop is designed for women, multicultural communities and students to expand their knowledge, gain practical tips and connect with like-minded professionals in a supportive environment.
“These workshops and podcast series are about emerging technologies and to set the record straight so we can better understand and be better informed.
“We’ll unpack each technology with women in STEM leadership who will provide deeper insight, address all our fear-based concerns, and share her extraordinary story about how she became an expert in her industry.
“By joining us, you’ll be learning about the latest emerging tech, future-proofing your career, and hearing inspirational stories from the world's best technologists.”
The Launch Pad workshop inspiring mentors include Fazila Farhad, director of FazFar and Z Hotels, HeyYa TV producer Davy Nguyen, WSU manager for innovation strategy and services Carla Dias Wadewitz, Phoenix Eye Films founder Maria Tran and Coco & Lucas Kitchen founder Diem Fuggersberger.
“Western Sydney is an exciting region to be here. Just look at how Parramatta has transformed, it changed a lot and it's incredible to be here where the country’s third-largest economy is performing so well,” Ms Lin said.
To know more about the Western Sydney University Launch Pad’s Women and Multicultural Entrepreneurial Skills Training Program, visit https://launchpadlive.com.au/wmp/.
For Lucy Lin’s Emerging Tech Unpack podcast topics to follow, visit https://www.emergingtechunpacked.com/.