The Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur’s ResilientQ program draws on the experience, expertise and mindset of a group of Queensland innovators and entrepreneurs to help Queensland regions solve some of their biggest challenges.
ResilientQ takes a fresh-minded group of entrepreneurs and innovators who are at the cutting edge of their own business out to a region where they can see for themselves first-hand the problems community members are facing and propose potential solutions.
For the people of the Torres Strait – Zenadth Kes – two of their greatest challenges are climate change as well as the impact of marine debris washing up on their shores.
In partnership with the Torres Strait Island Regional Council and Queensland adventure travel company Best Life Adventures, the Office of the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur took a group of 16 innovators on a five-day resilience mission to Masig Island in September last year.
“What we wanted to do was to bring together a group of innovators, small business, corporates, people interested across the ecosystem who wanted to share in some adventure and also share in some community give-back and looking at how we can use innovation to solve problems for regional communities across Queensland,” Queensland Chief Entrepreneur Julia Spicer said.
The group met with schools and community members to try and understand the challenges they’re having around climate change and marine debris and took part in a beach clean up to pilot the Marine Debris Taskforce established by Salty Monkeys in partnership with the council.
Ms Spicer said marine debris was a major challenge – with these communities often left to deal with the clean-up of waste that they did not create.
Founded by Ben and Sophee Southall in 2017, Best Life Adventures is renowned for its Australian and global adventure holidays. Ben was the winner of the Best Job in the World competition in 2009 – when he became the Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
Watch the video below to find out more and hear from some of the innovators who participated.
Expressions of interest are now open for the second ResilentQ mission, heading to the beautiful region of Bundaberg in March 2024. If you would like to find out more about the mission, register for the information session on Tuesday 30 January 2024 from 12pm to 1pm online.
