Lab4Good Program for Peer Connexion
Peer Connexion Lab4Good participants with Peer Connexion staff and CEO Dorothy Belperio and Amy Orange of Collab4Good at the Lab4Good Pitch Night
In November 2020, Peer Connexion (a growing social enterprise which supports people with disability) engaged Collab4Good to design and deliver a bespoke Lab4Good incubator program for a group of eight Peer Connexion clients to co-design a number of social enterprises that can create employment opportunities and increase connections for people with disability.
Amy Orange, Co-Founder of Collab4Good and Lab4Good Facilitator spent five fantastic weeks together with the Peer Connexion participants learning new skills, being creative, coming up with ideas, understanding customers, testing those ideas with customers, refining those ideas, putting some budgets together, and we brought it all together into a final Pitch Night where the participants presented their social enterprise business ideas to family, friends and Peer Connexion staff.
We ended up with four wonderful and promising social enterprise ideas that showcase the range of skills, knowledge and high levels of creativity that the participants have, and create opportunities for employment and connection for people with disability:
Dragon’s of Jupiter - a series of short, accessible Dungeons & Dragons modules for people with disability to increase self-confidence, social skills and problem solving skills through creative gaming.
Ben’s Gardening Services - residential gardening and maintenance services for people who need help to look after their garden, from a very friendly and experienced gardener.
Grow 4 Good - market stall and online shop which offers:
A diverse range of low cost environmentally friendly plants, herbs, teas and seeds with comprehensive information and education on plant care, and their medicinal and healing properties.
Decorative plants and succulent terrariums, and upcycled planter boxes and vertical gardens made from discarded pallet and scrap wood.
And which gives back a percentage of the profits to support programs for people with disabilities.
The Lab4Good graduates bravely stepped up and pitched their social enterprises to an audience at our Pitch Night, and each team walked away with an investment from Peer Connexion to cover some of the costs of setting up their businesses.
If you are interested in a bespoke Lab4Good program for your organisation, get in touch with Amy at Collab4Good by emailing hello@collab4good.com.au
