Lighthouse is a beacon for Canberra businesses
Matthew Power, Candice Edye and Anna Pino at an "Interesting People Doing Interesting Things" event earlier this year. Photo credit: Canberra Airport.
Anna Pino and Candice Edye both come from a psychology background before moving into the business world and eventually running Lighthouse, a multidisciplinary business consultancy that helps Canberra businesses and startups in Canberra.
How it started
Lighthouse Business Innovation Centre has been part of the Canberra innovation and business ecosystem since 2008. But it has seen many changes – including to its ownership.
Lighthouse was created as a partnership between the ACT Government and innovation funder Epicorp. Anna was recruited as Lighthouse’s first CEO. Candice joined Lighthouse two years later in 2010, worked for a few years, then left before returning a few years later.
In 2014, the ACT Government announced it was no longer able to fund Lighthouse. Anna and Candice then decided to take over ownership of Lighthouse and have co-owned it since 1 July 2014. While Lighthouse delivers government programs under contract, the company is fully independent.
Business is fundamentally about people
“Psychology is a good foundation in understanding human beings”
While both studied psychology in their early years, they acquired qualifications in finance, commerce, leadership, and business management. Despite having the same initial academic grounding, their varied studies, work and life experiences allow them to bring different skills to the business: Anna focuses on governance and finance, and Candice on public relations and communications.
‘Psychology is a good foundation in understanding human beings,’ explained Candice. ‘In my case, it was applied to communicating with human beings and in Anna’s it was managing people.’
Both cofounders believe their psychology background enables them to provide more empathetic support and advice to small businesses. ‘We also have families, caring responsibilities, and responsibilities outside of work, and I think sometimes it helps keep us grounded and centred,’ said Anna.
“if there were any prima donnas in the business it would be incredibly hard”
‘We have a very complementary working relationship, said Candice. ‘While we don’t always agree on things, we’ve always found that we come out with a better solution when we work together. Our partnership is the strongest part of what we do because we don’t have an ‘I’ attitude; we have a ‘we’ attitude. I think if there were any prima donnas in the business it would be incredibly hard.’
While their business journey has not always been smooth and prosperous – especially in the COVID years – both knew what they were getting into and have the emotional resilience to deal with ups and downs.
‘It hasn’t phased us as we both come from small business families, and we know what it’s like – we grew up with it,’ said Anna. ‘Candice and I had a serious conversation when we decided to move offices just prior to the COVID lockdown. We said we were not coming out of this with any debt,’ she said. ‘To do this, we had to make some pretty tough decisions about our incomes and pivot our core skills into other work until our contracts came back online, and we were fine with all of that.’
Free support for Canberra businesses
Did you know: Canberra businesses are eligible for 4 hours of free personalised support – for any business, whether just starting out or planning to exit – through the Canberra Business Advice & Support Service (CBASS)? From 1 July, Lighthouse has delivered this service for the ACT Government to Canberra businesses. (New South Wales based businesses can receive support from Enterprise Plus.)
Under the CBASS program, support can include a range of issues. ‘It can be from marketing problems, financial problems, business stress, anything that affects the business or the business owner,’ said Candice. ‘We provide the generalised support, but we do have a referral network of specialist advisers. Depending on the issue that the company has come to us with, we might refer them to a professional such as a lawyer or an accountant.’
Anna said that the range of issues Lighthouse provides support on covers everything from helping people overcome sales anxiety to general business advice on leasing, restructuring, and marketing issues (including change of traction with social media). Leasing is always a hot issue for Canberra businesses, as well as finding staff, remote working, problems getting tradespeople, and increasing cost of living pressures, all causing local businesses issues.
ACT Microcredit loan program
You may have heard stories about loan sharks who provide high-interest loans to the vulnerable – such as pay day loans. People suffering from cost-of-living crisis often feel like they have no other choice. And that’s especially hard if they want to start a business to get on their feet again. Lighthouse can possibly help as it administers a program designed to get a small boost into business.
The ACT Micocredit Loan Program, the only one of its kind in Australia, provides no interest loans for up to $3,000 and low interest loans of up to $10,000. The program is for people wanting to start or grow a business. It helps them develop business skills, key relationships, and build confidence.
‘The program is geared at people who may not be ready to seek traditional debt financing. They may be young or have had to overcome changes in their personal circumstance, including chronic illness,’ said Candice. ‘The program is very much a social program that sits within an economic program. A lot of what we do is supporting the individual to achieve their personal and business goals.’
Chief Minister's Export Awards
Earlier this year, we profiled Harold Dimpel, whose fintech Rocket Remit was a winner in the ACT Chief Minister’s Export Awards. These awards don’t just happen by accident, a lot of work goes into organising the awards, which are being administered this year by Lighthouse.
This year’s ACT Chief Minister’s Export Awards announcements will take place at a ceremony on 18 September. Stand by for news of the 2023 winners.
Interesting People Doing Interesting Things
Photo credit: Canberra Airport
If you get invited to a Lighthouse networking event, make sure to say yes. Lighthouse runs a networking series called ‘Interesting People Doing Interesting Things’ sponsored by Canberra Airport. It is based on a curated invitation list that brings together groups of 20 to 30 people. Based on the Medici effect, the small groups are designed to foster innovation and connection by bringing people from diverse sectors and experiences together.
‘We invite people from a range of industries and sectors and from different stages of business who would normally not encounter each other,’ said Candice. ‘It’s carefully orchestrated. We find it’s been very successful: deals have been done, collaborations and referrals made, and it certainly creates connections across Canberra’s innovation community.’
‘You think about big networking events,’ explained Candice. ‘You maybe speak to 4 or 5 people around you –unless you are a good networker. We tend to do it as a small group so that you are likely to meet 15 to 20 people at that event.’
‘What we found is that some people are really introverted and not comfortable with big group networking. And at least with this format, it allows us to know most of the people at the event. We’ve come across them in some way, and we can gently facilitate conversations. It allows us to talk to people as well because usually, when you’re hosting big events, you don’t get to talk to anybody in the room,’ said Candice.
Private clients
And if that wasn’t enough, Anna and Candice also have private clients. Anna serves as a Company Secretary for several private clients, and Candice works on PR. They also undertake corporate business reviews and targeted research projects. ‘The issues that the small business clients are facing are really no different to those faced by our more established corporate clients,’ said Anna. ‘Most of them have issues around their financial structures, financial management, governance and employment.’
The Canberra Ecosystem
“it’s the people in the ecosystem that makes it so supportive”
Anna and Candice have played a unique role in Canberra’s business ecosystem for several years. Candice says it has changed and evolved over the years. She notes government involvement often dictates the nature of the ecosystem. For example, when someone now starts a business, they can go to the Canberra Innovation Network, the Canberra Business Chamber and Lighthouse. But in the past, the first port of call was the ACT Government shopfront.
‘Overall, it’s the people in the ecosystem that makes it so supportive,’ said Candice. ‘It tends to be individuals who have a “can-do” attitude, who have the right attitude about supporting startups no matter which organisation they are working for.’
“They [startups] are coming out with a much better understanding of what they want and what they need’. ”
‘I think the Canberra ecosystem is a wonderful place for somebody to start a business because there are a lot of people who are more than happy to devote their time, attention, and support to helping small business. There has been, and there always will be, great people in Canberra who are supportive of business.’
Anna said she is seeing startups who are more knowledgeable. ‘They are coming out with a much better understanding of what they want and what they need’.
Startup funding has also changed, according to Anna. ‘In the old days, they were all looking for that first investor. Now I find they're looking for different ways of funding their growth, but they want to be responsible for it and don’t want to hand over responsibility to someone else.’
A collaborative ecosystem
“We’re not here to compete - we’re here to support ”
‘We also decided early on that we’re not here to compete,’ said Anna. ‘We’re here to support – everyone has their own role in the ecosystem. There’s no point us trying to be something that somebody else is already doing – for us it’s about how we add to that. We look at what’s being offered, and how we can add some new element or do differently that might bring something new to the conversation.’
Candice noted government can influence the ecosystem. They do that by deciding who and what to fund. This has kept us on our toes. It forces us to innovate, and by the same token, it makes work more enjoyable because we’re always doing something new,’ she said.
‘We do not believe in a scarcity mentality. We tend to take a very collaborative approach of dealing with anybody in the ecosystem; this has stood us in very good stead.’ said Candice.
Advice to Canberra startups
With decades of experience – both as business owners and advisors – what advice do Anna and Candice have for Canberra startups and businesses, especially those affected by tough times? Both have several nuggets of practical and emotional support.
‘Tenacity is such an important part of doing business,’ said Anna. ‘Sometimes changes and tweaks can be quite small but make a big difference. And sometimes, it’s about learning how you just hang on and ride out the challenges.’
“sometimes, it’s about learning how you just hang on and ride out the challenges”
‘I think it’s important to park the pride and ask for help,’ said Candice. ‘There is a range of different business advice and mentoring programs available. Other small business owners can also provide support, even if it’s just a shoulder to cry on. People are a lot more giving and more supportive than you might necessarily think they are. Don’t wait for things to get to a crisis point.’
‘Talk to your suppliers and talk to your bank,’ said Anna. ‘You’ll often find that if you sit down with them and are upfront about your concerns, there is generally a way to come to an arrangement to suit everybody. People see asking for help as a sign of failure. It’s not – it's a sign of being human.’
‘Being in business by yourself can be very isolating. It’s important to tap into your community, build networks and have other small businesspeople that you can speak to. Canberra’s not just a public sector town, but a thriving place to do business,’ she said.
