Supporting the social enterprise community to grow

Good Cycles is a leader and advocate of the social enterprise movement, growing and evolving its offering, and supporting the sector for over ten years.

The organisation started as Australia’s first bicycle-based social enterprise, offering employment pathways to young people through bicycle servicing and training. Now Good Cycles is creating meaningful jobs across multiple industries, including asset management, waste, logistics, retail, horticulture and more.

The social enterprise sector is still relatively young in Australia but is rapidly growing. Good Cycles looks to opportunities to share the lessons they’ve learned over the years to support the social enterprise sector to grow.

In November 2020, Helen Macpherson Smith Trust awarded a grant of $200,000 to Good Cycles to support the development and implementation of a social enterprise hub.  Following an in-depth review of potential site locations within Melbourne and the strategic needs of the sector, ‘The Purpose Precinct’ based at the Queen Victoria Market was established.

Through The Purpose Precinct’s retail, hospitality and circular economy offering, Good Cycles directly helps young people break through barriers to employment by creating jobs that nurture people, community, and the environment. As it comes up to its first full year of operation, ‘The Purpose Precinct’ extends a range of positive purpose-related offerings including:

• growing the visibility and vitality of the social enterprise sector, enabling at least 80 established or emerging social entrepreneurs to wholesale their products, and giving those entities the opportunity to test models that aggregate or scale this sector;
• creating a range of employment opportunities for priority job seekers with 75 direct or indirect jobs created for high-needs cohorts in ‘green’ industries, plus the development of a training and employment model that facilitates cross-enterprise collaboration;
• enabling the activation of people and places: to be changemakers for a safe and just future, through the provision of onsite workshops and events; and
• building tourism products that connect visitors to regional social enterprises.

“Helping transform such an iconic and established venue such as the Queen Victoria Market into a Social Enterprise hub has such potential for positive change.  Thanks to HMST’s contribution, we can really focus on refining and developing a Social Enterprise model of success that can then be expanded through other industries and other areas of the country”.

Jaison Hoernel, Chief Executive Officer, Good Cycles

Please find out more about the great work of Good Cycles through their website .