Mentoring for growth in regional areas : a case study of the Rockhampton VCCU

In the late 1990s, the Queensland Government believed that existing market mechanisms were failing to fund and support many SME's and ideas that would grow business and the Queensland economy, which meant that Queensland entrepreneurs were not achieving their full potential. To overcome this market failure it was recognised that a central government agency was needed with a process enabling start-up business to access the range of skills, resources and networks required to grow from an idea to a fully operational business. The Queensland Department of State Development and Innovation (DSDI) established a Venture Capital Unit (VCU), now the Venture Capital and Commercialisation Unit (VCCU), dedicated to helping more start-ups get off the ground and survive their first tenuous years of business.