By CASEY NEILL
SEBN celebrated International Women’s Day by showcasing two successful women in business.
Dandenong Market chairwoman Julie Busch and Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT) CEO Jane Grover spoke to a breakfast that the Greater Dandenong Council business group held at the Clarence Reardon Centre at Springvale Botanical Cemetery on Thursday 10 March.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” Ms Grover said, explaining that great people equalled great results.
SEBN manager Sandra George told the packed room that women today had many opportunities.
“Do we always take advantage of them? Probably not,” she said.
Ms George said a lack of self-belief was often to blame.
“We’re growing in that respect, but we’ve still got a long way to go,” she said.
“Believe in yourself and take every opportunity to grow and not be afraid to grow.”
She asked each table to nominate two women who had changed the world, and responses ranged from Rosie Batty to Oprah, and Germaine Greer to Florence Nightingale.
“There are so many fabulous women who have changed the world over a number of centuries and there is no reason why we can’t continue,” Ms George said.
Ms Busch joined Dandenong Market three years ago, and is also a SMCT trust member.
“A strong sense of place and community spirit makes for a story destination,” she said.
She said the venue was “a beginning for so many different nationalities to become merchants and traders”.
“The market’s been a constant in the community as the city’s grown and evolved,” she said.
“It will continue to be a platform for new and emerging businesses.”
Ms Busch said the market could harness the community’s expanding palate and growing interest in food experiences.
She wants the market to be a meeting place.
“No shopping centre or department store can meet what Dandenong Market can offer,” she said.
“It needs to be known as the place to go.”
Ms Busch spoke about the need to balance tradition with the community’s current needs, giving expanding the market’s three trading days to include Sundays as an example.
“Sunday trading is growing significantly and is one of the best trading days of the week,” she said.
She said the market was Australia’s second oldest, one year behind Prahran, and its 150th birthday celebrations in September and October would include a 20-metre photographic mural, a sculpture and a coffee table book featuring stories and photos from shoppers.
“It’s not something you reinvent, it’s something you nurture,” she said.
Ms Grover said SMCT was working to demystify cemeteries and reflect ever-changing communities.
“I hope you are surprised by what you see today,” she said.
“If you look at the surroundings you’re in, you could be anywhere.”
Springvale Botanical Cemetery now hosts sold-out Sunday Jazz sessions.
“Nobody else is doing this in Australia. In fact, nobody else is doing this in the (United) States.”
SMCT also manages Bunurong Memorial Park in Dandenong South, where Premier Daniel Andrews will officially open new facilities on Sunday 17 April.
Ms Grover explained that every dollar the trust brought in went back into running its eight sites, including three older cemeteries that no longer generated income.
“We have to maintain them,” she said.
“We’re about service. We’re about looking after the community.”
