As part of WASEC’s Learning Community Series, supported by SEDI, we recently hosted a panel that brought together inspiring changemakers working to create micro enterprises in WA. This session, Leading Change: Diverse Voices in Micro Social Enterprise, explored how different models of leadership are empowering communities to grow their own businesses and create meaningful pathways to participation.
Our speakers – Stacie Mei from Queer and Diverse Pathways, Clare Wood from Enterprise Partnerships WA, and Sharna Jarvis from Microenterprise People and Microenterprise Launchpad – each shared their unique journeys. From peer-led LGBTQIA+ and neurodiverse businesses, to First Nations women in the Kimberley using enterprise as a pathway to healing, to young people with disability carving out meaningful employment, the conversation showed just how powerful micro social enterprises can be.
- Sharna showed how customised employment can give young people with disability genuine choice and flexibility in their work, and why collaborative spaces matter for reducing social isolation.
- Stacie Mei shared what it takes to build a peer-led model from scratch, where queer and neurodivergent people can support each other and reinvest directly back into community.
- Clare described the strength of First Nations women in the Kimberley, and how mentoring, small grants and access to shared spaces can open new pathways for self-determination.
Across the panel a few common threads stood out: the importance of agency and authenticity, the role of humour and persistence in sustaining leadership, and the reminder that our job is to hold space for people rather than take power away from them. We also heard practical takeaways, from the realities of governance choices to the small steps that can make enterprise more sustainable.
Would you like to join our learning community cohort? We’d love to hear from you – get in touch at [email protected].
Watch the recording of the workshop here!
Watch the full video below – and check out the TL;DR version below.
Reflecting on our personal leadership
Participants were invited to contribute to a Canva board and describe who they help with their social enterprise, and what leadership style or skills they have that make their approach unique.
