Birth Beat’s Edwina Sharrock
Resilient, innovative and passionate; three words to live by when you’re a woman running a small business in rural Australia.
And they are words worth contemplating on Tuesday, October 15, “International Rural Women’s Day”, a day to celebrate the invaluable contribution women make to rural regions across the globe.
There are 275,000 rural women running small businesses in Australia and we’ve had the privilege of profiling a whole stack of them in recent months for our Regional Heroes campaign.
Samantha Meurant is the founder and host of The Rural Compass a podcast dedicated to profiling women in rural businesses all over the country and the co-founder, with colleague Tori Kopke of Big Ideas Rural, an online community for women running business in rural Australia.
According to Samantha, women in these areas are among the most creative and pioneering because they make their circumstances work for them.
“The real advantage for women running rural businesses is the lifestyle that comes along with it. Living in a rural area you get a terrific lifestyle, and also the freedom to enjoy it!”
On the Compass Collective page, Big Ideas Rural closed Facebook group, members discuss things like business challenges, poor, limited and unreliable internet and mobile services as well as the positives, which mostly relate to the great sense of connection in their local communities.
According to Samantha, passion is what sets these women apart when it comes to business success.
“For a lot of women in rural business that I speak to, it’s their passion for what they are doing and their drive to want to succeed and remain where they are, in their rural location that makes all the difference.”
Flying Solo and Kochie’s Business Builders have recently profiled some of the most exciting and inspirational women in rural business as part of our Regional Heroes campaign.
Each woman and business has a story to tell that’s worth sharing!
- Cath Fowler, Regional Roar
- Sarah Parkinson, Affirmation Farm
- Nerida Richards, Feedxl
- Samantha Meurant, My Rural Compass
- Donna Carrier, Bent On Food
- Tori Kopke, 20-20 Marketing Solutions
- Sophie Jones, Tyde
- Jane Cay, birdsnest.com.au
- Nicola Rivett, Kids Eye Gear
- Edwina Sharrock, Birth Beat
- This story first appeared on the microbusiness site Flying Solo. Read the original here.
- More on the Kochie’s Business Builders Regional Heroes campaign is available here.
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