Over the last few years, Barista competitions and the skills of a good Barista have been getting more and more recognition, but still too few cafe’s engage a qualified Barista to make their coffee. Grinders is committed to providing quality Barista training and to educating the consumer on the importance of a qualified Barista making their coffee. A natural extension to this is supporting Barista competitions.

This competition will give skilled Baristas the opportunity to show off how quickly and efficiently they can make good coffee using their favourite coffee beans. The goal of the competition is to highlight the skill required to make excellent coffee. The competitors will be assessed on their speed, efficient use of equipment, choice of beans and ability to deliver a coffee up to the standard that they describe.

Richard Bradbury is Grinders Coffee Victorian trainer, a judge at the austral-asian specialty coffee state and national titles, and head judge for this year’s festival. “We are very proud to support the Viva Italia festival with the inaugural Barista competition. Coffee competitions provide a chance for the public to see the regions very best coffee makers strut their stuff on stage.” And it’s good for the cafes and restaurants that support their coffee makers to enter. “We see these competitors honing their skills for competition and then getting back into the workplace with fantastic abilities. The customers see the difference in every cup, and the owners love the buzz that comes from having a top Barista in the business.”

The Barista competition will be a highlight of this year Viva Italia festival held over the weekend of Friday 19th of March to Sunday 21st of March 2010. Grinders Coffee will host the event in conjunction with Business Wangaratta.

This event will provide an excellent forum for cafes and restaurants to show off the quality of their coffee and their Baristas. Competitors will have the opportunity to bring along their favourite beans and crockery to truly highlight what they do well. All interested competitors should contact Malcolm Bradbury for an entry form on 03 5721 2690 or email

This competition will be one of the many great entertainments on offer at Wangaratta's Viva Italia festival held at Apex Park in Wangaratta over the weekend of Friday 19th of March to Sunday 21st of March. Featuring all things Italian, the Viva Italia festival will be a great weekend of food, wine and entertainment by the banks of the beautiful Ovens River. To find out more visit: www.vivaitaliawangaratta.org.au

Innovative companies in the Hume Region are set to benefit from a commercialisation program being run in the region. The Regional Technology Commercialisation Program (RTCP), is fully funded by the Victorian State Government and is aimed at assisting innovative organisations, take their ideas to market.

Pyksis has successfully delivered the program across regional Victoria for the past four years. The current Program consists of the following elements:

• The Explorer Workshop – a one day workshop which introduces participants to the key issues in commercialisation and shows them how well they have confirmed their invention and commercialisation opportunity. Brochure available here.
  
• The Pioneer Program – a ten week program (3 full days plus mentoring and a final presentation Showcase) is designed to enable participants to clearly define and present their Business Cases to an Expert Panel for assessment. It covers market research and marketing strategies, intellectual property (IP) strategies, identification of the most suitable business model for exploitation of the innovation, how to build a winning team, building sound and realistic financial projections, including a comprehensive grant strategy, how to fund business growth, and sustainability issues in a low carbon economy, all underpinned by assignments that can be directly applied to the business. Brochure available here.
  
• Mentoring For Commercialisation Funding – this program, which is conducted over a three month period with selected participants, is aimed at assisting companies to gain early funding to develop their business to its next stage of growth. This may include accessing government grants, debt funding or early investment funding, which can be applied to business building activities such as enabling each company to complete further market research and accelerate sales growth, further strengthen their IP position, build their team and prepare for significant follow-on investment. Brochure available here.
  

A Explorer Workshop will be held in Wangaratta on Thursday March 25. For further information on the program or how to access this exciting opportunity, please contact Ms Linette Penhall, Relationship Manager, Pyksis Pty Ltd on 0419 542 714 or at by February 17.

We are pleased to invite you to the first of the Workers Compensation Employer training days for 2010 as below:

Spaces are limited, so bookings are essential!

Register by clicking here now or by Email to  or via phone on 1800 198 243

For further information contact:

Paul Bocquet
Branch Manager
Intermediary Distribution - Workers Compensation
QBE Australia

Direct: +61 2 6042 3500   Mobile: 0417 143 978   Fax: +61 2 6042 3599
Email:
Visit us on the web at www.qbe.com.au
A QBE Company - NIBA General Insurer of the Year 2002 to 2009

There is much confusion regarding the 2010 Anzac Day public holiday, with businesses unsure about who can be open and at what times.

With Anzac Day falling on a Sunday this year the public holiday falls on the Monday, April 26.

On normal Anzac Day holidays retailers are restricted from opening until 1.00pm as a sign of respect for the dawn services. This year most of the confusion centres around wether the retailers must adhere to these restrictions on the Monday public holiday as well as the Sunday.

Business Victoria have stated trading restrictions would apply on Sunday, April 25, with trading hours for Monday, April 26 as a public holiday, would remain as for any other public holiday.

Business Wangaratta, in conjunction with Murray Hume Business Enterprise Centre (MHBEC) and the Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) held an information seminar regarding the newly implemented 'Fair Work Act' on how it affects small business.

The seminar was run on Wednesday 3rd February 2010 from 8.00 to 9.30am at the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre Conference Room. There were 21 businesses from the district who gained knowledge on how the newly implented Act would impact their small business.

Speaker Emma Watt, an Industrial Relations Expert representing COSBOA, ran through the areas most likely to have changed or altered by the new legislation and answered any relevant questions as they were asked during the presentation.  Emmas knowledge on the subject was exemplary with everyone who attended more the wiser and now armed with compliant information for their business.

The cost for the event was $10.00 Non-members, $5.00 Members with Tea & Coffee provided.

If you missed this important seminar then please visit www.fairworkforsmallbusiness.com.au or www.fairwork.gov.au to obtain the information you need to meet your obligations to your employees.

At the AGM an updated Constitution was adopted with a set of revamped Rules & Regulations and Statement of Purpose.

In conjunction with this the Committee of Mangement has been altered to a Board. We have 10 proactive members of our business community who are dedicated to ensuring the future of businesses in our region will be prosperous and enduring.

The new Board members are:

Recently developed Cusack Business House offers a fully serviced Professional Business Environment for your business.

Whether you’re a Business representative looking for a place to work or a business looking to set up in a well appointed, fully equipped facility; Cusack Business House is well worth an inspection.

Visit our webpage for more information.

Does your business use a lot of energy or emit greenhouse gasses?

Any business using more than 25,000 megawatt hours of electricity, 2.5 million litres of fuel or emitting 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide is required to register with and report to the Federal Government’s National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting system.

Registration must be complete by 31 August 2009 and reporting for the 2008/9 period is due by 31 October 2009.

To find out if your business is obliged to report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting system, complete a self assessment here.

For more information on National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting system visit thier website here or ph: 1800 018 831 or email: