It’s a revolutionary business development program that doesn’t disguise its career-shaping intentions.
The Bond University Transformer Launch Pad provides a collaborative environment where students work on an entrepreneurial project to take it from idea to execution.
It’s an Australian-first program offered as a fee-free, extracurricular option to undergraduate and postgraduate students from all disciplines. And it has a serious competitive aspect.
Each semester, students are invited to pitch their ideas to a panel of industry experts Shark Tank-style, in the hope of scoring a $2000 start-up grant.
We spoke to three Transformer winners to find out how their projects are faring in the real world and to ask if they have any tips for young entrepreneurs keen to follow in their footsteps.
Sebastian Fergusson (2021)
Sebastian Fergusson won Transformer Launch Pad in 2021 at the age of 19 with his reimagining of the traditional surf lifesaving rescue paddle board.
Now 22 and with a Bachelor of Business double degree majoring in Marketing and Entrepreneurship under his belt, Sebastian’s dream is trimming ever closer to reality.
“I had two goals when I started out - to save lives and grow the sport I love,” Sebastian said.
“I’d been competing in surf lifesaving since the age of seven, and my idea was to optimise three aspects of the paddle board: speed, stability, and strength.
“Right now, I have four full-size hulls being tank-tested for their material properties and shape and safety with the intent of putting a couple in the hands of the Bondi Rescue and City of Gold Coast lifeguards in the not-too-distant future.”
Sebastian said he was motivated to make a difference both for surf lifesavers hoping to save lives, and for those using the paddle boards to compete in surf lifesaving as a sport, and he says he’s enjoying riding the entrepreneurial wave.
“I chose a bootstrapping path which basically relies on my own savings and sweat to fund everything, and I’ve managed to come a long way by doing that and not spending my valuable product development time chasing big investors - that’s for down the track.
“The secret sauces are passion and patience and my advice to anyone starting out to develop an idea is to enjoy the personal growth bit of the journey because you’re about to find out a lot about yourself.
“Follow your passion and while you are doing that ask yourself if what you are doing is solving someone else’s problem.
“And if the ambition of it all doesn’t daunt you, you’re probably doing it wrong,” he said.
Sebastian says every entrepreneurial expedition demands a different approach, research level, and resources.
“But make sure you are always one step in front of the customer, and you completely and utterly understand them.
“As the late entrepreneur, business innovator and Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”
Sebastian says there is no such thing as too much research and timelines can go jump in the ocean.
“Research should never end because the moment you stop researching, innovating and understanding the environment you’re operating in, your competition and failure will be ready to pounce.
“My advice to young entrepreneurs who may be unsure of whether to start down that long path of development and commercialisation is to absolutely do it regardless of what that little voice in the back of their heads is telling them.
“Some of the most successful people are those who were prepared to feel some level of comfort when it might feel uncomfortable to someone else.
“And I truly believe you should never put timeframes on your most ambitious goals – timelines are all artificial at the end of the day and shouldn’t get in the way of what needs to be done in real time.”
Sebastian’s hot tips:
- If your ambition doesn’t daunt you, you’re probably doing it wrong.
- Always be one step ahead of your customer.
- Enjoy the journey and the things you find out about yourself.
Jim Chapman (2019)
Jim Chapman, 23, took out Transformer Launch Pad and Bond Business Accelerator in 2019.
Today the former Bond University business and commerce student is brewing up the perfect blend of good coffee and philanthropy to educate children in Africa's biggest slum, with all profits going to St John's primary school in Nairobi.
He and his social enterprise start-up Nice Coffee Co. www.nicecoffee.org are well on the way to renovating every classroom in the school of 450 students, which is beset by leaking roofs and poor lighting, already having provided funding for 15 teachers and 30 student scholarships.
“A while ago I got involved with school projects in Kibera slum where St John’s is located. It’s a pretty wild place but it’s where I saw a lot of opportunities to help younger kids.” Jim said.
“With something as simple as an education, a whole family can be lifted out of poverty and what I found when I started the business was that more companies than I realised really do want to make a difference with their purchases.
“Corporate social responsibility is not so much a trend, it's more of a mandate these days, so something like this really resonates with them.”
The Nice Coffee Co. uses ethically sourced Kenyan coffee to supply beans-and-machine packages to offices and companies that want to have a positive social impact.
And to say it’s a passion project right out of Africa is probably an understatement.
Jim was seven years old when he travelled to the world’s second largest and second most populous continent with his family for the first time.
His parents fell in love with Kenya and later left their tea tree oil farm near Lismore, NSW, to launch the Ololo Safari Lodge on the edge of the Nairobi National Park, which Jim also manages today.
“The coffee company has plenty of repeat business which allows me to invest time in the safaris which allow tourists to explore some of the most unique and untouched places on the continent,” Jim said.
“Passion is everything; doing something you really love and care for and waking up in the morning is easy for me knowing that what I do has purpose.”
Jim says it’s all about the right mindset.
“If you are super-motivated to just make money, that’s a recipe for disaster,” he said.
“It’s also about doing the right type of research.
“Sitting at a laptop for hours and analysing data is hardly the best way to find out what your customers want; you need to hit the footpath and ask potential clients the tough questions.
“I find you learn much more from the nos than the yesses,”
And he says budding businesspeople should also not fear failure.
“In the Bond Business School, we learnt that some investors choose entrepreneurs with a failure under their belt because they know they have been pushed out of their comfort zone and are wiser for the experience.
“With the coffee company, I threw myself in the deep end and I really didn’t have any expectations about where it was all going to end up.
“Every idea doesn’t need to be the next million-dollar business; low budgets and realistic expectations are a good starting point.
“And in these enlightened days of business, it should be less about profit maximisation, and more about social entrepreneurship,” he said.
He also believes there’s something in the whole think globally, act locally edict.
“Young people coming up have full licence to think a bit more globally about principled business models that give back, than about hard profit,” Jim said.
“If young people starting out putting all their savings into one project and it doesn’t work, it can be quite dispiriting, and many simply give up.
“The conventional business model is out the window these days. Apart from laws and science, everything else is kind of up to our own imagination.
“I didn’t just copy and paste what other businesses were doing, I took inspiration from entrepreneurs thinking and acting differently, and that’s a big part of the coffee and safari companies’ success.”
Jim’s hot tips:
- Don’t be afraid of failure.
- Make it about social entrepreneurship.
- Get ready to learn more from the word No than the word Yes.
Imogen Clarence (2022)
Bachelor of Business and Social Science student Imogen Clarence is doing big things in the Indigenous art scene.
The 22-year-old first began painting just three years ago and her work has since taken off in ways she never expected.
“At the end of 2021 the Office of Engagement at Bond ran an art competition to design an Indigenous print for their new merchandise and I was fortunate enough to have my work recognised, winning the competition,” she said.
“This was the beginning of my journey discovering a passion for Indigenous art, my culture and establishing ImiBelle Art.”
As a proud Kamilaroi woman who grew up in Bigambul country in Goondiwindi, moving to the Gold Coast gave Imogen the opportunity to fully immerse herself in her culture within the Bond Indigenous community.
"Growing up I had limited connection with my culture, but since relocating to the Gold Coast I have had the privilege to spend time with some local Elders in the First Nations Centre at Bond and discover how amazing and special my culture is,” she said.
Imogen also completed the Business Model Execution subject in which she and her team raised $10,000 for Indigenous and mental health charities with the creation of native animal themed car air-fresheners decorated with her art.
Imogen graduated at the end of 2023 and today she is working two days a week for Indigenous Innovation Ventures at Varsity Lakes to help inspire young Indigenous people through youth leadership programs and non-traditional career pathways.
It's there she uses her artistic skills and newly acquired business smarts to help empower Indigenous entrepreneurs and change futures.
Every other day of the week she can be found working on her own art, loving every moment of the creative process.
Imogen says she appreciates the importance of getting the business side of what she is doing absolutely right.
“When you have your own business, you think about it all the time, and even if you love what you are doing as much as I do, it can be very draining - you can wear yourself out getting nowhere fast,” she said.
“About 80 percent of what I do is trying to work out how to make money from my art and
people don’t see a lot of that.
“I’m always looking for competitions I can enter, attending events, and I’m always on social media because nowadays social media is everything.
“I have to be constantly out there, keeping up with the art community, the people that support me and the people that I want to support me in the future,” she said.
Imogen says one thing to be wary of starting out is imposter syndrome.
“I used to look at artists around me who have 100,000 followers on social media and their art on buses and in public places, and I would wonder how I could possibly measure up to them.
“But then I realised that if you can watch the people who are doing good things around you, it helps so much more - I look at what they’ve done and what they are doing, and I set my sights on doing it better than them.
“It’s not easy, but it’s the best way to become a success in whatever you are doing and whatever field you are in,” she said.
Imogen’s hot tips:
- Make plenty of time to work on your business.
- Shake off your imposter syndrome.
- Look at what successful people are doing and do it better.
More information about Imogen and her artwork journey can be found on her website https://www.marumaliaboriginalart.com/blank-1