Established in April 2011, Settlement Services International (SSI) has been at the forefront of supporting new migrants, refugees, and the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse People (CALD) communities in Australia.
As a community organisation and social business, their organisation actively promotes diversity in the society. One of their key objectives is to ensure social and economic participation from these families and individuals.
In 2013, SSI developed Ignite Small Business Start-ups, a project which aims to encourage people of diverse backgrounds to embark on planning and setting up their own businesses. SSI recognises the importance of employment as one of the means to achieve a stable, secure and independent future. SSI has helped over 550 Sydney-based entrepreneurs and have launched around 100 business ventures in total.
Drawing from the success of Ignite, they have also launched another endeavour in 2017 called IgniteAbility Small Business Start-ups to specifically help support and address the needs of people with disability.
Some of their case studies are as follows:
The IgniteAbility program is currently available only for those in the Greater Sydney area. The general support will be tailored according to the NDIS participant’s needs and will include an IgniteAbility Facilitator who will provide:
- free and confidential support from a location that best suits the participant
- capacity-building and networking in areas such as product development, marketing and financial management
- work with individuals to overcome barriers that may have prevented them from realising their potential
To learn more about this program, email them at ignite@ssi.org.au or visit their website ssi.org.au.
