Entrepreneur takes on business portfolio
Obslife, May 2011
THE owner of 33 South Backpackers and The Loft Backpackers in Trill Road, Kim Whitaker, has taken on the business-development portfolio of the OBSID.
The portfolio, which will increase in importance as the OBSID gets the crime-and-grime situation under control, aims to support the development of Observatory's business community in line with the character of the village.
Kim believes the business-development portfolio has two broad goals.
The first is to increase clientele for local businesses by putting Observatory on the map, and the second is to get Obs businesses to agree to an ethical standard of doing business that will enhance Observatory's status as a high-quality destination.
She has already implemented some of those ideas through the Observatory Accommodation Providers Association which she started for Obs backpackers and guest houses.
The association does joint marketing and its members subscribe to a code of good practice.
Kim, who studied marketing before she started 33 South three years ago, says one of the first things she wants to do in her committee is to define the character of Obs that can be marketed outside and around which businesses can be developed.
That process can lead to practical projects such as developing street maps of Obs that highlight and market businesses. She also sees her committee branching out in subcommittees that can promote different business sectors.
The OBSID has recently set up an online survey where businesses can fill in their details. The online address is www.surveymonkey.com/s/MRWRCX3
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Turning Obs into a better place for business
Obslife, Mar 2010
OBSID Director Peta Brom not only brings a solid set of technical skills to the Business Development portfolio which she chairs, but also a lot of heart.
The very reason why she decided to settle and start a family in Observatory in 2008 was "to live in a place that represented what I did for a living".
Brom is a sustainable development expert with a special interest in inner-city regeneration.
Observatory, she explains, is uniquely placed to become a model of sustainable living: it is scaled to pedestrians, it has an integrated mix of businesses and residences, its public transport facilities are relatively convenient and many of the old buildings in Obs are greener than modern structures - the ratio of window-to-wall surface saves energy, for example.
"The other side of it is that Observatory is one of the few suburbs that has racial integration, and economic mix - you have wealthy people and poor people living side by side," she says.
Her profession, together with the fact that she comes from a business family, enables her to approach the development of the business community in Observatory in an holistic way, but she is quick to acknowledge that business development can only happen after the main issue of crime and security has been brought under control.