Alan presenting Carol Hanlan with an AusIndustry certificate

At the 2007 Belmont Small Business Awards I launched a national project that will provide skill development, forums and mentoring to more than 2000 new and emerging indigenous, multicultural and young fashion and jewellery designers. The Howard Government has provided $299,475 to the Textiles, Clothing and Footwear Industry Resource Centre of WA to deliver 10 business skills development activities for the National Virtual Designedge Fashion Incubator Training and Mentoring project. This project will provide support up until 2015 for mentoring and training in market research, product development, IT, e-commerce and specialised business topics. I also presented an AusIndustry certificate to Carol Hanlan, the manager of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Organisation, in recognition of her organisation's strong support for small businesses.