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The Commonwealth Bank is taking ten women entrepreneurs from Australia to Silicon Valley as part of a study tour of the undisputed tech capital of the world.
Departing Australia on May 2013, the 5 day self-funded trip will focus on learning from the innovative workplace practices, business models, and emerging technologies applied by businesses and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.
Upon their return to Australia, the women will share what they’ve learned with the Commonwealth Bank’s Women in Focus network, an online community of women business owners and professionals established in 2011.
One of those selected to take part in the study tour of Silicon Valley is Queensland business woman Yvette Adams (pictured). Her company, The Creative Collective, which is based out of Maroochydore, is a leading digital media and training agency servicing clients around Australia. Yvette started the company from home after the birth of her second child in 2007. Today, the company operates from two locations, Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast and Newcastle in NSW.
Yvette says the trip to Silicon Valley is a dream come true for her.
“Over the New Year period I set myself some goals, and one was to go to Silicon Valley in 2013,” she said. “I didn’t know exactly who I was going to go with, or how I was going to make it happen, but for some time I’ve had a burning desire to go there. Now it has come to fruition I am naturally very excited about it all.”
An experienced marketer and fearless self-promoter, Yvette Adams has established herself as one of Australia’s leading women in technology. In 2012 she won the Women in Technology (WiT) Entrepreneurial Award and her company was awarded Employer of Choice by WiT.
In 2010 she won the Commonwealth Bank Business Owner of the Year Award at the Telstra Business Women’s Awards in Queensland. Yvette says she has been well looked after by the Commonwealth Bank ever since she won the award.
“The cash prize at the time was helpful, but what has been far more valuable is the contacts I have made through the Women in Focus network and the opportunities they are constantly connecting me to,” she said.
“Apart from this Silicon Valley trip they have invited me to retreats in Byron Bay and Noosa, and to see Richard Branson speak in Brisbane for free…It really is an incredible online resource and network. I am forever grateful to the massive business support they continue to give me on my business journey.”
For more information about Women in Focus and to join the community for free visit the website: www.womeninfocus.com.au