Every now and then, you experience something that reminds you of why you do what you do. Why you love your job, why you choose your company. Something that doesn’t just stoke the fire, but lights it up like raging inferno.
That happened to me last week at Supply Nation’s annual flagship event Connect. Held across two days, Connect brought together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, corporate organisations and government departments to build opportunities and celebrate the success of the First Nations business sector.
BrewHub was there, as we have been for the past eight years, supporting Steve Ella, owner of Supply Nation-certified Australian First Nations coffee company, Zipella. It was a momentous few days for us with the launch of Steve’s second blend, Yarra Bay, which was received with rapturous enthusiasm from attendees at the event [Learn more about Steve and Yarra Bay blend in a recent blog].
I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on Connect, and what made it so special. Here are my five takeaways from 2024’s event.
This year’s Connect was seriously impressive.
We’ve been supporting Zipella at Supply Nation shows since 2015 and the changes I’ve seen in the event since that time are staggering. The number of exhibitors has increased significantly – there were at least 3000 attendees this year – and the quality of prospects who came and saw us at the show was incredible. It’s grown and flourished into such a bustling, inspiring environment and I felt lucky to be amongst it.
Zipella’s new Yarra Bay blend on show at their stand.
Connect was a catalyst for important conversations.
I had so many great, engaging conversations this year with people who care about what we do at BrewHub and how we do it. A lot of people were keen to know about the impact Steve is making as a result of the sale of his Zipella coffee. It was brilliant to see so many organisations asking the right questions and showing an alignment to our values.
Connect needs to go on every corporate, government, and not-for-profit calendar for 2025.
Our attendance this year solidified the importance of showing up at Supply Nation’s annual event, no matter how busy we are. I continue to learn every single year I attend, speaking to other exhibitors, discovering what they do or what challenges they’re facing. It’s not just about getting new customers on the day for us, we’re also there to meet new businesses and potentially bring them on as part of our offering or as another partnership. There are some real gems here and the investment in this show is always worth it.
Steve Ella with his daughter, Rachael.
Connect is a great reminder of the importance of doing business with the right people.
This year, Steve took his family to Connect for the first time. Seeing Steve, his wife Justine, daughter Rachel and son-in-law Mark together, watching them interact and share stories with others, made me think a lot about the importance of great partnerships. Steve has taught us so much. We do our best to be our best at BrewHub, but we’re still students. With every interaction we have with Steve, we learn more. He makes everything feel comfortable, he gets that we don’t know what we don’t know, and he’s patient and generous in educating us.
Steve is vital to help us to continue to work with First Nations communities and businesses – as we don’t have lived experience of the challenges or the traumas, or know all the sensitivities. We’re grateful to have his support so we can continue to learn and improve. Our values are aligned, we have similar work ethics and mutual respect and we’re just so appreciative of everything Steve brings to the table in this partnership.
The stories from exhibitors at Connect were uplifting and inspiring.
This event is an incredible opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. There are bigger businesses attending but also individuals running smaller ventures, such as a woman I met who makes biscuits by hand that she delivers to the Brisbane CBD. She’s putting her heart and soul and money into her business and it’s a fantastic, quality offering. It’s heartening to know that it will only take one corporate organisation to be interested in a partnership to be truly life changing for her.
As always, we’re so grateful for the donation of the booth from our friends at Accenture, who sponsored Zipella at Connect for the second year running. We’ll be floating on air for a while after such an extraordinary few days and feeling comradery and pride with so many flourishing First Nations businesses.