Over the last few days, we prepared an Expression of Interest for the Ignite Ideas grant fund.  This is a Queensland Government grant for small and medium-sized businesses.  This is a medium-sized grant, which could make a huge difference to the rollout of the platform. The grant would fund: (i) Social media promotion of the platform, membership, disability entrepreneurship and how the platform could support members to pursue their entrepreneurial aspirations and potential. (ii) Engagement of Griffith University researchers (iii) Programming work. (iv) Digital animation for the platform. (v) Digital artwork for the platform. (vii) Advice from the digital consultancy firm Digital8. (ix) Advice from the strategic consultancy firm Mindhive. This is part of our ongoing efforts to raise sufficient funds to allow us to start operating the platform and to assist Australians who live with a disability to pursue their money-generating aspirations and potential.

This item is from the US and is reflecting on the positive power of diversity, including disability employment and engagement in the US business scene. For anyone interested in innovation and disability (which we are) it makes for some incredibly interesting reading.

We are delighted to report that three software services are showing their support by giving us special pricing and access to other supports, because of our not-for-profit status and our social objectives. These services are: (i) Box (ii) Mailchimp (iii) Digital Lift (Monday.com) These are services that provide excellent applications and online services that we regularly use.  We definitely recommend that members of the platform's community check out the services and consider them for your own needs.

Inspired by the release of Dinesh's excellent book, and by the prompting of people who here respects, Gary is currently compiling his notes so as to write about the genesis of the platform, it early development and its launch.  We think that there is an excellent story to share, but we are of course biased. In his early twenties, Gary wrote some short stories and a couple of fiction books.  Of course, his wife Renay Allen is a far more talented writer than he is.  It will take a while, but we will keep the followers and supporters of the platform informed of his progress.  So it's out there now Gary, so no more procrastinating and get on with it. In the meantime of course, we understand a lot of his time is devoted to fundraising and setting things up.   If you know an Australian with a disability who hopes to set up a money-generating endeavour, encourage them to complete the short form below or contact us ([email protected] or 0436 480 769) if they have any questions.