Enabled.vip is a game changer for disability and the workforce
Dr Gary Allen
Dr Gary Allen is an experienced Human Research Ethics and Research Integrity consultant. He is the Managing Director of AHRECS (www.ahrecs.com), a premier HRE/RI consultancy firm in Australasia, which is now working internationally (see https://www.ahrecs.com/senior-consultants/gary-allen).
For about 2 years he has been setting up Enabled.vip (www.enabled.vip) a virtual business incubator for Australians who live with a disability. It is his passion.
Enabled.vip
Enabled.vip is a virtual business incubator for Australians with disability. It will create, nurture and support a community of practice in the Australian disability entrepreneurship space. Our goal is to assist Australians with disability to establish and operate their own money-generating endeavour, which is successful, sustainable and robust. The Advisory Board of the platform brings together people with disability (three of whom are successful businesspeople with disability) and two world class researchers. The panel also includes one CALD person with an intellectual disability. The platform will support members to monetise a hobby/craft, establish a gig-based nano or micro business, or establish a small business.
1. What inspired you to create Enabled VIP?
I think the inspiration came from a confluence of events, personal realities and frustrations. The level of unemployment amongst Australians with disability relative to the non-disabled has remained unacceptably high for around 30 years. I have been Managing Director of a reasonably successful consultancy firm for 18 years, despite living with a progressive neurological condition and being powered wheelchair mobile. In 2019, I attended a government disability employment event. A colleague of mine, who has also run successful businesses and also lives with disability, queried the presenters why they weren’t discussing disability entrepreneurship. When our questions were answered with blank stares we decided to try and tackle the problem ourselves.
The simple truth is that a significant proportion of the Australian disability community is being ill-served by the current approach to disability employment. Some people will not know day-to-day, or even hour-to-hour if they will be well enough to work. This is incompatible with part-time or even casual work. This is not the fault of the employers or individuals with disability. But it does leave them financially vulnerable and socially isolated. For some individuals, they may have marketable skills, experience and networks, meaning that they can be poorly provided for by the dominant approach to disability employment.
It is frustrating to observe governments of all political persuasions during the last 30 years doggedly keep trying the same approach and then being surprised when they receive the same results.
The approach to disability employment desperately needs some disruption, the Enabled.vip platform will provide that disruption.
2. How does Enabled VIP enhance people's experience of entrepreneurship?
While we were designing the Enabled.vip platform we noticed a couple of interesting factors that we felt that needed to be addressed. 1. The level of disability entrepreneurship in Australia relative to entrepreneurship by the non-disabled is not as high as it is in North America, the UK and Europe. When you drill down on the reasons why people will point to the lack of role models, peer support, resources and training. Suggesting that a community of practice in the Australian disability entrepreneurship space could be a powerful force for change. 2. A couple of years ago UTS conducted a disability entrepreneurship program. What was interesting was that at a public event some of the ‘success’ stories pointed to how challenging it was going from being a passive benefit recipient to establishing and operating a business. The obvious thought that occurred was that if the successful people were saying this was the reason why some people dropped out of the program or were less successful. Again, this reinforced the value of a service that promoted collaboration, communication and mutual support. It also highlighted the importance of incorporating learning and professional development into the program.
We have included in the Advisory Board of the platform two world-class researchers in the disability, rehabilitation and entrepreneurship fields.
Two core components of the platform will be monthly webinars covering important, interesting and inspiring topics. Those webinars will commence in January 2023, and the other will be online self-paced capacity building modules on key business matters (e.g. branding, pitching for work and operating a lean enterprise).
3. What do you believe is the best part about working with people with a social enterprise model?
Too often Australians with disability can be dismissed as passive recipients of government benefits who are not capable of making a positive contribution to society or the economy. Such thinking is incorrect and fails to recognise the important contribution people with disability could be making, with just a little support – if only encouragement and being a sounding board.
One of the things I love working in the disability entrepreneurship space is because it gives me a chance to directly see the potential there already is out in the Australian community that has been ignored, dismissed and squandered.
Enabled.vip aims to disrupt that status quo and to facilitate more members of the Australian disability community to become active contributors to society and to the economy.
4. Are there gaps in the market that Enabled VIP is filling?
Enabled.vip aims to disrupt that status quo and to facilitate more members of the Australian disability community to become active contributors to society and to the economy.
There are plenty of business incubators and business coaches around but almost none with lived experience of disability. That is a big deal to their understanding of the reality of disability, balancing work/life/disability and their insight into the capacity and aspirations of Australians with disability. Experienced business people with disability can speak authentically to Australians would-be entrepreneurs with disability.
The fantastic Remarkable program provides support to would-be entrepreneurs with disabilities in the information technology space. But it does require that they have a fairly developed product/service and strong beginning of a business plan.
There have been some disability entrepreneurship programs in Victoria, Western Australian and Queensland, but these have been tied to specific geographic locations.
In 2019, UTS conducted a disability entrepreneurship program. At the event at the end of the program, the ‘success’ stories observed how hard it was going from being a passive recipient of benefits to establishing a business. This prompted the thought that if the ‘success’ stories were saying this, was this the reason why some were unsuccessful or dropped out of the program.
The above experiences have driven the following design features of the platform:
The program caters for people who are on a very early journey, who may not have considered establishing a money-generating endeavour before.
This will be a national not-for-profit disability service.
The program will use one-to-one advice, a peer support discussion board and a monthly webinar to establish, nurture and support a community of practice in the Australians disability entrepreneurship space.
The ‘graduates’ of the program will become advisors to future cohorts of members.
The small costs of the platform will be billable to the NDIS.
5. Why is it important to have a social enterprise like Enabled VIP available for people with a disability?
During the last 30 years, the level of unemployment for Australians with disability is around twice as high as the level of unemployment for Australians without disability.
This is despite the efforts of successions of Australian governments of varying political persuasions.
They have spent approximately one billion dollars on disability employment and have improved the rate by only a paltry amount.
There is a need for a disruptive approach to disability employment, that recognises their potential and empowers their social engagement, financial independence, dignity and agency.
Around 15 percent of the Australian population live with disability. As a country, we cannot afford to waste their potential and aspirations.
6. What do you like about changing the system for people with a disability?
It doesn’t matter if you philosophically approach the issue from a social justice or economic standpoint, what we have been doing for the last 30 years has not been working and has been leaving a significant proportion of the Australian disability community behind.
I am very excited about an approach that celebrates and facilitates the potential of Australians with disabilities to pursue their entrepreneurial potential.
We need to see Australians with disability as potential contributors to the Australian society and the economy, not passive consumers with no real potential.
7. Why do you think it is important to be a 'system buster? in the disability services sector.
An often-used expression when it comes to mental health, that if you keep doing the same thing and expect different results that is a sign of delusion.
We have been doing the same thing for 30 years and spending around a billion dollars and have been surprised when we only see a small improvement.
It is high time for a disruptive change. Disability entrepreneurship has the potential to be the solution to some apparently intractable problems. The approach is about empowering individuals and facilitating their social engagement. Best of all, it doesn’t require a huge financial investment. It involves corralling existing information and resources, as well as tapping into the expertise already in the Australian community.
A public policy change that would be incredibly helpful would be using the same income rules for disability pensions and payments as those currently in place for age pensions.
8. Do you have a favourite organisation or person you've supported through Enabled VIP?
I might use two individuals who are in very different places in their entrepreneurial journey.
James Nyland is a talented photographer with a disability. The platform has assisted him to start monetising his hobby and hopefully building it into something greater.
Jacob Darkin is an experienced disability entrepreneur with a passion for accessibility. He has developed a ‘proof of concept’ CAD module that assesses building plans and redevelopment plans to check how accessible they are. We have been putting him in touch with disability and design academics. His work is incredibly exciting and could make a genuine positive change to architectural practice in Australia and beyond.
9. What kind of support does Enabled VIP offer to people with a disability?
The platform will assist Australians with disability to:
1. Monetise a hobby or craft;
2. Establish a gig-based micro business; or
3. Establish a small business.
Membership starts with free access to a limited range of resources, which can be upgraded and billed to the NDIS to access all of our resources and content.
It supports members with:
(i) One-to-one business advisory support;
(ii) An internal peer support discussion board;
(iii) A curated Resource Library;
(iv) Webinars and online events;
(v) Capacity Building Workshops though Griffith University;
(vi) A blog and quarterly newsletter; and
(vii) An online marketplace.
See
https://www.youtube.com/@enabledvip
10. Why is it important to have an empowered and lived experience approach to entrepreneurship for disability?
I am a big believer in the principle that the best services and programs intended for people with disability should be led and guided by people with disability. Our seven persons Advisory Board includes five people with disability, three of whom are successful business people with disability.
In my experience, the services that have failed to be respectful, genuinely helpful and inclusive are ones that don’t include lived experience in their leadership team. Both the Chair and CEO of Enabled.vip live with disability.
