Supporting local businesses across St Arnaud, VIC to build capability and connection

Delivering a place-based approach to business community resilience 

Strong local businesses help create strong local communities.

That’s why we’re excited to partner with the Northern Grampians Shire Council to deliver ‘Business Ready Together’ – a practical, locally tailored program designed to help businesses across the St Arnaud region become resilient and better prepared for whatever comes next.

Led by Renae Hanvin, this place-based program combines local knowledge with practical tools, conversations and learnings designed specifically for St Arnaud businesses.

Through a mix of in-person events, self-paced online modules and practical resources, participants will build the confidence, capability and connections to navigate disruption, identify new opportunities and strengthen their business for the future.

Join the program here!

It's great to be back in St Arnaud helping the local business community get ready for what's ahead.

Renae Hanvin
Resilient Ready Buddy

What the bespoke St Arnaud, VIC program includes 

1. Bespoke online learning bundle until September 2027

Based on discussions with the team at the Northern Grampains Shire Council, we’ve created a custom online learning bundle featuring 10 mini-modules most relevant to the St Arnaud business community.

These bite-sized videos and quizzes will enable local business owners (and farmers) to learn at their own pace, whenever and wherever it suits them.

Access to the full bundle is available until the end of September 2027, supporting ongoing capability building.

2. Program launch on 1 September 2026

On Tuesday 1 September, the Northern Grampians Shire Council will host an in-community event to formally launch the business community resilience program.

What we love most is it’s being launched at a local hairdressers – where Meagan from ‘Top of the Town” hair and beauty will share her experiences of running a business, including why she needs 3 revenue streams… one of the selected module topics!

It’s a great opportunity for local businesses to connect and hear how this tailored local program can help build preparedness capability for all businesses across the region.

Details to be shared by the Council – and we’re excited to have Resilient Ready’s lived expertise colleague (Fiona Jago) sharing her story from Kangaroo Island bushfires.

3. Module access and community conversations until September 2027 

All local businesses and farmers can access the modules until the end of September 2027 and will have opportunities to participate in business community conversations – with a calendar of conversations being shared with the local council by Resilient Ready.

The success of this program relies on embedding the learnings and conversations into the local business community – building stronger connections and capability to operate well in the good times, and ensuring a confident, capable network is in place when challenges arise.

4. Program wrap-up & insights report in September 2027

At the conclusion of the program, Resilient Ready will provide the Northern Grampians Shire Council with a detailed wrap-up report outlining:

• Participation data

• Community insights

• Key resilience themes

• Recommendations for future action

These learnings will help inform Council planning and ongoing business engagement.

Why this program matters

Running a business in St Arnaud takes resilience, adaptability and strong local connections.

This tailored program helps strengthen local knowledge, confidence and connectedness – so businesses are not only prepared for disruption, but positioned to thrive.

It’s practical.
It’s local.

And it’s designed to create lasting capability for the people who keep regional Victoria moving.

We’re also excited to be strengthening local #bridgingties and #linkingties – helping connect businesses with each other, their community and the organisations that support them.

Working together to build resilient and ready business communities

There is nothing we appreciate more than a local council who is focused on helping their business communities to thrive. Thriving businesses support thriving communities and many business people are local community leaders.

We commend the Northern Grampains Shire Council for recognising the importance of building disaster resilience across the local business community and for their leadership in making this work possible.

This program is funded by the Northern Grampians Shire Council.