Enterprise development officer
Personal
Honorlea Massarella is from Norton Village, in the north east of
Britain, not very far from Scotland. She grew up in Holland and has
lived in various parts of the United Kingdom in her teens. She came
to Australia in 2000 as a backpacker ready to travel the world.
Once arrived in Darwin she worked as a volunteer for Parks and
Wildlife and met her partner, Chris Mangion. Her life and plans
changed very quickly; they married at the end of 2001 and now have
three children.
Professional
Honorlea completed a Degree in Global Forestry and Forest
Product Technology in Britain and various land management
qualifications. In Darwin she worked as a volunteer for ERRIS, NT
Parks and Wildlife Ethnobiology project, Northern Land Council and
Greening Australia.
During this time Honorlea worked with Traditional Owners on
Country for few different projects looking at business development.
She has since worked with many different communities looking at
ways to support people wanting to start small businesses based on
plant knowledge, finding a path to blend traditional ways with
business in a culturally appropriate way, for Aboriginal people to
be in control of the direction the business should take.
In 2004 she started working as a Support Officer for Greening
Australia’s Aboriginal Landcare Education Programme.
Role
Honorlea began working for NAILSMA in September 2006 as an
Enterprise Development Officer. The project aims to meet a number
of obligations and aspirations for enhanced Indigenous economic
development that is created, driven and implemented by Indigenous
groups. There is a unique opportunity for economic development to
occur on a strong foundation of culture-based initiatives that have
to be embraced for social, economic and cultural outcomes.
Currently the position is funded to facilitate and support six
Indigenous Groups to develop sustainable enterprise concepts to the
stage where they may be considered by relevant agencies and
business support institutions for funding for further development.
The position will also
- Collaborate with the NLC’s Caring for Country Unit and
other relevant groups.
- Establish a Working Group.
- Develop culturally based and appropriate mechanisms for those
groups to engage in business development.
- Develop a strong network between other ranger groups to allow
community exchanges to occur, and develop the capacity for groups
to communicate and support each other in business development.
- Consult with various groups to ascertain the level of interest
in enterprise development and how much involvement or control
people would like to have.
- Identify people’s ideas or concepts by planning and
consultation stages of business development which may include
business planning or feasibility studies.
- Link with other government and non-government departments to
provide business support services.
