While we are all living and working apart, online connections are the best way to connect right now – and a cup of coffee doesn’t hurt either!

Each week the Blue Mountains Business Community Resilience Project team is catching up for a virtual coffee with a local business owner to talk about how they are weathering lockdowns, restrictions, and a downturn in tourism in the wake of Black Summer bushfires and the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

This week Rebecca kicks off our Coffee Chat series by talking with Ginett Mills, owner of Ivy Lane Cleaning and Ivy Lane Candles.

From cleaning to candles

Ginett’s cleaning business has been hugely impacted due to COVID-19 because she’s not been allowed to clean. She’s not been eligible for government support, which has led to a loss of income.

In response, she decided to try selling the hand poured candles that she’d been making for herself and her family members. The Blue Mountains community has been really supportive of her new business and she’s now been delivering her candles to people’s doors locally.

You can listen and watch our Coffee Chat, as well as catch up on all the previous Coffee Chats, on the BusinessBM Youtube channel.

Blue Mountains Business Community Resilience Project news

In other exciting project news:

  • We have just launched a local business directory to help connect, promote and support businesses in the Blue Mountains region.
  • The BusinessBM website now includes useful links and resources for Blue Mountains businesses covering resilience, mental health and wellbeing, and networking. These website enhancements support local business owners and operators in establishing their own local networks and to stay connected.
  • Lawrence Atkinson of Business BM chats to corporate2community director Renae Hanvin in the latest episode of the Doing Disasters Differently podcast. During the episode they discuss BusinessBM’s strategic objective to build connectivity and collaboration across local government, business and the general community.

This is just the start of our two-year collaboration with BusinessBM to help businesses across the Blue Mountains build resilience, connections and wellbeing – so that they are better able to prepare and respond to the future disasters to come.

If you are a business and business chamber located in the Blue Mountains Local Government Area please register your interest to be part of the program.

 

We do disasters differently

We know that people are the foundation of resilience. The more we build capabilities in people the more resilient our communities will become.

Our expertise means that we can help communities, businesses and governments from thinking and doing disasters differently.

To find out more about how we can help your community, contact us at [email protected].

View more posts