Synergy IQ: 0:01

Welcome to Creating synergy where we explore what it takes to transform. We are powered by Synergy IQ. Our mission is to help leaders create world class businesses where people are safe, valued, inspired and fulfilled. We can only do this with our amazing community. So thank you for listening.

Daniel Franco: 0:19

Hi there synergisers and welcome back to another episode of The creating synergy podcast. My name is Daniel Franco and today we have the inspiring Carmen Garcia on the show. Carmen is the CEO and founder of the national award winning diversity and inclusion certified social enterprise Community Corporate. Community Corporate operates in the niche space of corporate social responsibility, and they specialize in the recruitment with a social conscience and corporate volunteering in 2021 Community Corporate one national social enterprise of the Year at the Australian Small Business Champions Award. Funnily known by her peers, Carmen is called the diversity and inclusion warrior and she's well regarded as a social entrepreneur driven to make profound economic and social impacts through work. She's biased in that light, but I've got another office in New South Wales, the social enterprise operates nationally, and they are creating a better world for all. In 2021 Carmen received the woman in innovation award for social impact and was listed one of the top 50 small business leaders in Australia by insight business. She's received so many other amazing awards, including being the inaugural winner of the 40 under 40, business leaders and entrepreneurs in SI. This episode was really inspiring as we learned some of the amazing work that Carmen and her team at Community corporate are doing and the profound social impact they have on the community. Her passion to bridge the gap for refugee and migrant people, helping them to secure work in corporate Australia is prevalent throughout this conversation. statistics such as 6% of refugees who have worked after six months of being in Australia, and still only 25% have worked after being two years in Australia, is a damning statistic that Carmen is feverishly trying to fix. She shares some great insights for corporate leaders, and how to improve their social impact and diversity and inclusion within their organizations and how we can recognize our unconscious bias and reprogram our brains. We also discuss the challenges of being an entrepreneur and dive into our experiences along the way. I know you're absolutely going to love this chat. And if you'd like to learn more about some of the other amazing leaders that we've had on the creating synergy podcast and be sure to jump onto our website at Synergy iq.com.au Or check us out at creating synergy podcasts on all the podcast outlets. Cheers. Welcome back to the creating synergy podcast. My name is Daniel Franco, your host and today we have the fabulous Carmen Garcia on the show. Thank you for coming on.

Carmen Garcia: 3:07

Thanks so much, Daniel. It's amazing to be here with you.

Daniel Franco: 3:10

So I just want to rattle off a few little little bits of information about you before we get in into the show. So you're known as the diversity and inclusion warrior you're the Managing Director and CEO of your own company community corporate which specializes in working with the refugee and migrant communities. You're a thought leader in diversity inclusion, the refugee and migrant employment regional migration strategy, social impact investment. In 2021. You were the woman to women in innovation you wonder women in innovation award for social impact. You will listed in the top 50 small business leaders by inside business community corporate your business one a social enterprise or national social enterprise of the Year Award at the Australian Small Business Awards. In 2020. You received the Australian a commendation award for inspiring young si women si women. You were awarded the governor's multicultural award for individual outstanding achievement. Your business again community corporate was listed in the fast movers company and you you are the inaugural winner of the 40 under 40 state Contribution Award and Koga co convening award now the first Australian born Filipino elected as the national president for the Filipina communities of Council of Australia and on top of this on a various bunch of boards as well. I mean kudos that's not a bad little rap there.

Carmen Garcia: 4:45

Thank you and most important role mother to Ashley and Cooper. But you know Daniel, look at you realize I'm going hard or go home. And when you're driven by social cause you have a lot more stamina to push through it and achieve excellence because we're trying to change the narrative here.

Daniel Franco: 5:03

You we certainly are. And you're doing some wonderful things, obviously, and getting rewarded for it, which is great. So tell us a little bit about your story on how you became the diversity and inclusion warrior.

Carmen Garcia: 5:17

well, honestly, if I have, I've looked back now and really reflected. And I think my mom, who's a Filipino migrant played a really strong influencing role in my career and where I am today, like most migrants, she's a practicing solicitor in the Philippines. And when she came to Australia, her qualifications weren't recognized. So she had to start from scratch. And she lost that industry passion. And I really saw through her journey and her experience that how important work was to human dignity and that sense of purpose. I went through school, like most people, I went to St. Dominic's in North Adelaide, and, you know, I'm 42 now. So in that era of the 80s, there was still quite a lot of racism and discrimination. And, you know, I found out very quickly that, you know, I was different, but at the same time, I was unique. And there are many other people like me that we could connect with, through that point of difference in diversity. So I really started volunteering and helping other people, and really trying to give us a voice. And I think that was my grandfather, as well, who, you know, came over and helped raise me because my mom got divorced quite early. And so raising me as a single mom working three jobs. My grandparents came over my grandfather always said, you know, common to whom much is given, much is expected. Now, Daniel to be on it we lived in Housing Trust, we didn't have anything and I thought, What am I got to give like my 30 cent Lolly bag? What do you mean? Now I realize I have a voice, I have courage. And I'm not afraid to stand up for people and I bring people on the journey. People will describe me as ambitious. But they'll also say they all get to ride on the coattails like I'm ambitious for all of us.

Daniel Franco: 6:59

Yeah, that's amazing. So tell us a bit about your career and where you started, and then how you ended up managing your own business.

Carmen Garcia: 7:08

Like most South Australians, I thought, you know, the only place to go was the state government. So I did start there in policy type roles, and very much went straight into communities. Eric's Department of Human Services or Department of Families and Communities at the time, and then really saw that the best way to help people in my opinion is through work and skills and education. So I spent time in TFSA, managing their policy unit, and then worked with the at the time CEO of the department to develop the skills for all initiative that really helped give people those skills training as a pathway to employment. Then I was on a board actually the multicultural youth SA board as the Deputy Chair at the time. And I helped them write a tender for nearly $4 million. And they said joke to me, if we got this tender, would you come on board as the CEO? And I was like, Yeah, sure, no worries, we got the tender. So woman of my word, gave government you know, notice, and when and started to lead this not for profit helping refugee youth in South Australia, and not being social work trained. Like I asked questions like an entrepreneur and a business person. Why are we doing that? Yeah, that doesn't make sense. We're not actually creating independence, we're creating dependencies. So I guess my fresh perspective in that human services field really enabled myself to grow. And from there, that's where my passion particularly for refugees, even I've always worked with my Filipino and multicultural communities really came to the forefront. Then I got pregnant with my first child, Ashley, and after having her I thought, I'll just be a consultant and just want to work part time, it'll be quite easy. And really help companies who don't speak the same language as you know, charities or not for profits, really live their corporate social responsibility. responsibility mission help them activate that. And that was in about 2014 2016, I hired my first staff member. And now 2022. We've got about 15 staff with an office here in Adelaide and also an office in Western Sydney and Bankstown. And we operate everywhere apart from the Northern Territory and Tassie. So I think we solved a problem for corporates that genuinely want to create social impact and not compromise the business and the accountability they have to stakeholders. I feel like this is where we've created a real solution to bridge that gap make it easy for people to do good and do good business.

Daniel Franco: 9:40

What is what is the problem that you're solving? Like? Is it is it opening their eyes towards this, this social responsibility is providing them with really great employees that you know are from the marketing background? What is your what is the problem solving?

Carmen Garcia: 9:56

So community corporate, I think the wicked problem we're trying to solve is unemployment for refugees. The Australian Family Studies Institute said that 6% of refugees are in work after six months of arrival in Australia. And after two years, it's only 25% of refugees that are working. So to me, not acceptable, definitely need to address that for our refugees. But I think for corporate Australia, you know, we're seeing purpose driven, really strong values coming through companies as they're going through this agile evolution of the world of work this today, the new way of working. But I think what companies struggle with is how do they bring that to life? How do they go beyond ticking a box in a report to actually making their workforce feel proud about being part of something that's not just addressing business, but addressing social impact. So it can range from curating corporate volunteering opportunities, to helping them write and develop their diversity and inclusion strategy. But what we do best and what we do most is recruitment with a social conscience. We help companies challenge their conventional practices in how they recruit and hire, looking at attitude, looking at competency assessments, so that we tap into this abundance of skills and experience that refugees bring. But again, it's not on their resume. So we need people to look beyond those pages and look at the human if they want a sustainable, retained motivated workforce. refugees and migrants are an untapped pool

Daniel Franco: 11:28

untapped pool. The, from the community corporate point of view, do you do the recruitment for the company? Or do you set their recruitment processes up? Or both?

Carmen Garcia: 11:39

Both? Probably both, we most of the companies do recognize that working with diverse groups like refugees and migrants does require expertise. So my team is made up of recruiters, trainers, coaches, like any recruitment company, you still get the same service you would from a mainstream recruitment company, but what we do is really invest in an employer led model. So we train and we help our refugees understand industry jargon go through employer specific policy. So we do a lot of the heavy lifting for employers. So even though there are employers that we have built and refine their system to be more inclusive around recruitment, many of our corporate partners prefer to socially procure from us.

Daniel Franco: 12:24

Yeah, yeah. It is, uh, those statistics are pretty damning. I mean, 6%, in the first six months, 25% in the first two years, we have we've, we had a gentleman and I, Gabs come in from from Brazil. We've got a few people in Brazil in our team, which is great. We had one one gentleman who came in procurement expert, right? He's not he's no longer with us. He's in the business, I should say, he's still alive. Hey, he's left and gone and pursued his career in the corporate world, which is fantastic. But when he arrived here, he couldn't get a job. He was in Brazil way where he's from was an expert and seen as a senior almost, you know, Director senior level, couldn't get work. He was picking and helping with the fruit flies for two years, you know, and I don't know, Gabs' husband was the same thing is a civil engineer by trade couldn't get work for many, many years. Luckily, now he's just landed the job that he is in love with, which is great. And I remember I was in an Uber once and there was an engineer, who was driving me around couldn't get work. It was from Iran or Iraq, or one of the one of those countries. And he so I introduced him to engineers Australia, and he got some work out of that which was, which was really great. But with the world as it is with, it's an untapped and you say it's an untapped area. And we're workforce shortage, like, shouldn't these two worlds just blend so easily right now? Is there is why is there difficulty in in recruitment in that space?

Carmen Garcia: 14:00

Yeah, well, first of all, this is where a lot of people didn't understand my company name like Community Corporate, do you mean corporate community? I'm like no community working with, you know, the corporate sector. And absolutely, there was that that needs a brokerage. And there still is, I think what we've found is that there are two kinds of, you know, corporate employers, one, you know, there is a skill shortage people, it's an employee's market, people are really struggling to fill role, but they still expect a refugee or migrant to, you know, apply online, and they want to talk to references in, you know, Syria, where that particular establishment no longer exists because it's been bombed. So you know, the expectation of, oh, yes, we'll look at a refugee as long as they meet all of these expectations and comply with everything else. Whereas we had some amazing employers that work with us to still achieve that merit base and look at the key requirements they need, but we do it differently and unconventionally, so They might have, you know, a work trial. Or they might come in and do a scenario. If it's in IT, they might do an online assessment or problem solving. So they can see the skills and capability. Because a lot of refugees and migrants culturally, we're not self promotion at all, probably. People might argue that I am Daniel, but But I'm so emotional for the court. Yeah. But you know, majority, it's not culturally appropriate to say, I'm the best person for the job, you should absolutely hire me. So the role that we play is not only working with the refugee migrant to get them job ready, but we deliver cultural confidence training to the employers hosting them. So little things like, you know, what, what they say, and giving instructions is taken literally, when English is your second language, right? So, you know, in a retail environment, we've had an example where the manager says, oh, Daniel, do you want to take these bananas, we're gonna throw them out, run quick, put them in your locker, and then they run. And then they get in trouble for running because they're interpreting the word run. So it's things like that, and giving employers confidence that them the motivation of refugees and migrants, this is Plan B, they've chosen or some migrants choose to come to Australia, they want to make it work. They want this to be their home. Refugees don't choose where they go, where they're allocated from UNHCR, but they're here now, and there's no way home. So they want to make the most of it. And those motivators are very different. And it's helping employers understand how to harness that, and really get that loyalty and retention and that Co investment is so important. So I definitely think there is a need for what we do. But there is also a level of commitment. So when we talk about partnership, we actually mean codesign, transparency, you know, accountability, what do they want telling us up front, not changing the rules as we go, which, you know, unfortunately, we've had some of those experiences with employers, that they keep changing the goalposts of what they're looking for.

Daniel Franco: 17:03

Brilliant. So I want to just touch on the vision of community corporate, which is to lead change, promote diversity inclusion, advancing the social, economic and cultural prosperity of the nation, which is an amazing vision. I want to ask, If Australia was on a sliding scale of one to 101 being the worst 100 being the best. Where do you think we currently see on that scale of being able to be in the ideal state that you're looking to get to?

Carmen Garcia: 17:43

Such a tough question, wonder 1-100 is such a big scale,

Daniel Franco: 17:46

one to 10?

Carmen Garcia: 17:49

Oh, there's there's so many factors. I think one of the biggest things that concerns me is we used to be real social innovators, particularly here in South Australia. A lot of people have lost that risk. And, you know, as Adelaide Ian's we often wait to see what the East Coast are doing before we jump in. So that's really concerning to me. I do believe unconscious bias still exists. And it is unconscious that this is what people you know, they said, but we're not racist. And I think Australians when they look at the US, they go, Well, we're not that bad. Yeah. But unconscious bias. You know, it's it really is subliminal. Like, you know, I don't know if you heard when YouTube were designing their videos for the iPhone. All of the architects were right handed. So subconsciously, they didn't optimize it for left hand users. So when you turn the phone to the left, everything was upside down. That's unconscious bias, right? It's how we're programmed. So do we need to have more honest conversations about diversity and racism and discrimination, particularly in the workplace? Absolutely. Have we moved the needle? I do think so. So I'm going to give Australia a 6.5

Daniel Franco: 19:03

out of 10 out of 10. Yeah. 6.5 out of 10. Okay, so we're moving and what's the ideal state 10 out of 10? Or like, is that even achievable? 10 out of 10. I mean

Carmen Garcia: 19:13

I believe we can do a lot and like I like to exceed I do think there are so many champions, out there in businesses at all levels in government that are trying to influence the conversation. So this opportunity with you, Daniel, to have this conversation to reach corporate leaders and influencers to not be afraid to have this conversation. Ask questions. People like me and my team are here to give Frank and fearless advice. So many employers get scared to say, can you tell me a little bit about Ramadan? Like, what does that mean? Absolutely. Like don't be afraid to ask. There's so many things I still don't know. And I guess that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned is asking for help is actually really courageous. And companies. We're here to help.

Daniel Franco: 19:58

Yeah, so does it typically Cool. Now actually, I'll get to this questions, I want to jump on the unconscious bias piece that you said this because we can unpack that for an hour or two, we're not going to. But right now, Australia is a fairly multicultural site. I mean, we brand ourselves, okay, we're a multicultural society. And yet, we see that unconscious bias time and time again, I would be lying if we if we all I don't believe I believe we've all seen when a recruitment, you know, this is a generic role and had been role, right, quite a generic role. You get 200 applicants put in their resume. I could guarantee we've all seen this that based on the name on that resume, you either make it to the next round or not, this is the first card, right and is there. And it's not because these people aren't necessarily like you said, they're not necessarily racist. It's just through learned experience that these resumes might not have all the criteria, but then in that in saying that, that's exactly what you do, right? You help the applicants get the right information in the way that sort of culturally fit for Australia and all the above. So there's this just big mess in between? Can you explain? How do we move out of that first?

Carmen Garcia: 21:23

Yeah, 100%? I think, yeah, there's a lot of myths that we need to bust. And that's normally, you know, the first 15 minutes of the conversation and the the name, the exotic name on a resume, the assumption or the bias that goes with that is, although when we go to speak English, right, and we look at our Syrian refugees, for example, or the Afghan evacuees that have recently arrived, a lot of their English is really good that and they have been working with the Australian Defence Force. So they have great English. So that's the first they can't speak English, you know, miss, and that moves them to the pile. The other thing being they've got overseas qualifications, they're not going to have local networks will neither do your grads. So that's the other concern. And I think a lot of businesses think that if you're a refugee or migrant, you have to sponsor them. And there's a whole visa process, and it costs companies money. As a refugee or humanitarian, migrant visa, when you arrive in Australia and your foot touches our soil, you're a permanent resident, you get access to all the same entitlements, as other Australians. So it doesn't cost employers anything in depth financially, to hire a refugee or migrant. That's one of the biggest things, I think that's going wrong. And so yes, our model very much challenges that we do a lot of the screening, that's where we would get a lot of the requisites and information and assessments that employers want, we would facilitate that and do it differently. So the first real interaction that employer has, with our candidate is face to face like this meet and greet. Tell me about you. We've built a profile on them already to say, This is Carmen, she's so energetic and outgoing. She's clearly passionate to get back into the health industry, she was a nurse back in Philippines, etc, etc. So we build that confidence story, or based on what we know, having worked with them for you know, over a period of time, so that we start the employers experience in a really positive light and dispel some of those those myths. I think the corporate confidence training has been really important as well. That's often where we start and having those Discovery sessions with employers or teams that want to do more around diversity inclusion, but they don't know where to start and eight out of 10 sessions where we talk about unconscious bias and really challenge these things in the workplace. Most people end up saying, We should just hire a refugee and give it a go. And that's the best way to be inclusive. So it is a natural conversation. But the best results start with really unpacking what that looks like. So my point is, you know, we've nearly 50% of us in Australia, having some connection to the migration experience, either themselves or their families, we sometimes forget what it was like, or what our parents went through. And I think that's part of this conversation of, you know, how hard was it for migrants to resettle and adjust to Australia, imagine if your home is bombed, you're forced to flee, carry whatever you can on your back, can't speak the language, have no friends or connections. And then you have to start again. It's crisis, right? And so, being an opportunist, in COVID, we all felt crisis, no one saw it coming. No one asked for it. And it's infected people in different ways. But we've had to find a way to cope. And we've seen so much resilience come through the community. That is the plight of refugees. And if we actually stop and think about no one chooses crisis, and no one chooses to be a refugee, and we know how hard it was for my migrants let alone refugees, I really feel we can address that unconscious bias in an open conversation where people aren't scared to say, actually, yes, every time I get into an Uber, and they come from a different country, I say, and where are you from? Do you ask someone who's Caucasian? Probably not?

Daniel Franco: 25:19

Great, then I think that is that is a conversation that I've had previously on. And I've mentioned this before. And it was it was a really big learning lesson in my life where I was having a chat with a with a gentleman who has a business chat. And he, I asked him where he was from, right, typical Adelaide question, right? And it this was a few years back. And he said to me, he goes, I'm from Australia. And I say any like he spoke brilliant English and all the above. And I said, no no, like your family heritage, where you're from? And he's like, Oh, we're from the Caribbean, because but I'd like to put you out on that. It's us. If I was a white male Australian, would you have asked that question on? Probably not like, probably, you actually have no, I wouldn't have a lot of hassle at school you went, but that was the that was the really big learning lesson for me was that the the judgment? Or if that's the right word in that initial phase, for me, it came from a place of look, I'm Italian, you're from the Caribbean, I like cricket, I knew I could tell why the you know, some just, and I've seen your background knew a little about this person as well. So all that I was looking for common ground, right. But it really helped me understand to really never, or to really concentrate on on who the person is, as opposed to where they're from and what they've done. I think that is probably the what you do in your business every single day. And it's irrelevant of where they come from. It's the skill set that they can bring for your workplace, right?

Carmen Garcia: 27:01

100%. And yeah, and for visible minorities, it's harder, because you can't, you know, take off your skin, you know, like that. It's so easy if you stand out. But you know, so many, you know, people, particularly from the Africans, they're born here now, or families have, you know, settled 10 20 years ago, and they get asked the questions. And, you know, the young people we talk to, they don't understand why, what what do you mean, I'm Australian, and they've got Australian accent. But I think yeah, and it is that conversation, because we need to get comfortable that you know, diversity and the collective difference that we have in Australia is our strength. We were built on migration, migration was a big part of Australia's history. And I strongly believe in all my bones, migration is going to be part of our future. If we stop, remember and embrace it.

Daniel Franco: 27:50

Yeah. Well, I think what we're really feeling right now, if you talk about being part of our future is if you go back to the workforce shortage face, I mean, we work in work with corporate companies in workforce planning, and through the change in organization changing all the above. And we see this time and time again, and you can read it in the papers, the great resignation, all this sort of stuff that's going on in regards to the workforce migration is going to be huge. We're relying on that you have that we will cut off at the knees in 2020, and getting some really talented people over here. But yeah, when we talk about the refugees now, I think there is a skill set there that we're not, we're not tapping into. What I want to ask is, with the when you go through the sort of screening process, if that's what you call it at the front, where you meet the people and you go in, you ask questions and whatnot, if they're not, at the level in which you believe they could be hired from successfully, whether their English is bad, or their communication skills, or whatever it might be, do you help them as well? Or do you pass them on? Or do you go help them grow into a position? Or what's the process there?

Carmen Garcia: 29:00

Yeah, um, in the beginning, obviously, being really small, we didn't have that capability. Now we've got a team that speaks nearly 12 languages. We have an employment social worker, employment specific social worker to work with people one on one and coach them through it. We're trying to convince the government to give us a tender where we can create that skills lab because again, the motivation, the attitude, and the transferability of skills is there, but some of the basic potential digital literacy because it the divide is quite strong in terms of currency of skills. And also that confident English and literacy does need a bit of work. So we're really trying to create a circular process that anyone that comes to us proactively and they want to find a job and kickstart their career in Australia. We don't want to let them go because we know that's what the employer wants. And so we're trying to build that safety net now around how we can continue to work with them. So we've started to do a lot of things but yet, you know, the biggest thing like most small businesses Is Daniel it's capex we're at we've kind of hit the ceiling where we are not really promoting to employers, people find us they know our results, or 96% of our participants convert into a job with our employers and retention rates are at over 90% for refugees after 12 months, that's above the national average. And for many of our corporate partners, it's above their mainstream retention. So, you know, people find us to solve that problem and and to work with them. But yeah, when you've got the right attitude, and it's just about skills, this is where we need to invest. And so, yeah, we're, that's what we're trying to do.

Daniel Franco: 30:38

When you're gonna get busier after this podcast, there's a few of our listeners, no doubt, and we'll be looking you up and getting your details, we'll show you details at the end. Even if you can't take on much more work. There's always a way. there's a will, there's a way. So the, I think, how do you track success? When you then play? You said like, 96%? Right? How do you? How do you meant like, work through that, you know, that this, you know, this is what we're seeing? And these are the trends that we're seeing once we place someone into a into a workforce?

Carmen Garcia: 31:12

Yeah, I joke because I say we we use a system called 77 Spreadsheets, and most people have never, never heard. And I'm like, literally use 77 Spreadsheets, my poor team, so no, but we were at that, because they were at the scale point where we really need that CRM, we need to kind of build, you know, some something that we can kind of plug in and add value to. So if there's anyone out there that's got a great system. Yes, absolutely. We need that we can talk, we need that help. But it's very manual, we, so we don't just kind of drop and go our candidates, you know, once they're hired, bang, we've got a contract ticker box, that's not us, we continue to work with both the employer and our candidate for 12 months. So that's why that retention is the highest scaffolds down, obviously. But sometimes it's things like non vocational issues. So a woman going into the workplace, you know, and it's a part time role, but she's amazing. And the employer wants her to be full time. Oh, she has to organize childcare. So we would help with that. We've got those kinds of social work team that would would kind of do that. But, you know, we track it because our candidates are grateful. And they see the attribution and intervention of our model. And they want to come and tell us we've got this amazing story. Woolworths group has been the pioneer and the first real amazing corporate, who just happens to be you know, the Australia's largest private company, jump on board and partner with us. And we're so grateful because they really helped us flesh out at a white label model that's been rolled out to over 26 employers. And so with Woolworth's the Syrian refugee, single mom accounting background, and she tried to go into other programs, through different providers, and it didn't lead anywhere. So she was a bit reluctant to go into a Woolworth's customer service role, because she saw herself as a professional. She was in a, you know, mid 40s. And so anyway, she decided to do it. And we said, Look, we're not going to just drop you there. If you can't find the job in Woolworth. The job doesn't exist in Australia with 200,000 staff. So there are accountants, there's finance teams, let's have a long term plan. So she was on board with that, she really got confident in English and practice working at customer service level in the in the stores. She went and upskilled and did a Australian TAFE course just to bridge to have overseas and TAFE. And then we went to Woolworths and was said, let's put her into a comment in the accounts team, even through COVID. So she was able to do that. She picked up some local experience. Now we got her a job in one of the big four in the ATO area. She still hasn't given up a job at Woolies, because she loves it and the weekend and the team and the friends that she's made. That job has been so important to her settlement in Australia. And so that loyalty for Woolworth is there. And so there are great stories like that. And we we are committed to helping them achieve their aspiration. And we know that you know, the importance of starting your your job and getting that experience helps you take that next step. So we are really doing a lot of work. Now. You mentioned Engineering Australia. We're doing some work with them about how we can support refugees in their credentialing and support that assessment because they don't go through general skills, migration skills, when working with the IT sector with all the digital skill shortages and service now who's one of the tent coalition partners for refugees have done amazing programs in the UK, where they're helping refugees with those overseas calls upskill with relevance and coding and understanding JavaScript and all that stuff that I don't really understand Daniel, and so they're partnering with us to really help refugees in Australia as well. So there's so much appetite to help people just don't know how and I guess that's where we come into harness, connect and make the most for everybody.

Daniel Franco: 35:00

Yes, thank you for sharing that story, his amazing story. And again, kudos to the journey and hope all the best for that lovely lady that you were referring to, I want to ask in regards to the other aspects set, like were unconscious bias might play in that to people with disability. You know, women returning to work is probably another area, youth that are risk. These are other other areas that you work with as well.

Carmen Garcia: 35:31

Yeah, absolutely. So refugees, my passion and my priority, and they always will be, but we do have, you know, a responsibility to the greater good and social impact. And through COVID, when so many were impacted by the jobs crisis, we were approached by employers to look at women returning to work, you know, youth at risk ending ending the inclusion of migrants as well. And people with disability, you know, are naturally within that cohort. So we haven't really gone out and specialized, we're not holding up a flag to say we're experts in working with people with disabilities. But we have seen that, you know, it sits at about 36% of our participants across cohorts, do self identify as having living with a disability. So one of the, I guess the things for us in looking at the transferability, we every cohort we work with is a different set of challenges and barriers, we're overcoming but one of the key commonalities is, you know, a woman returning to work again, nothing on the CV because she's been a life manager, aka mum, for for the last couple of years, you know, a young person's never worked, because they've just finished school, you know, and then the migrant and the refugee new to the country, so the commonality of nothing on their resume. So our whole theory is we want employers to look beyond the pages of a resume, look at the person, assess them on the job in those skills and competency. So it's worked really, really well. We've had a lot of employers want to embrace, particularly women returning to work. We're doing some exciting stuff here in Adelaide, and I've met some of these women, and I'd hire them, but I can't believe that they're out of work for February. Yeah, 12 months. Exactly. And young people, I hired a young person, just before Christmas, and again on paper. But she's a rockstar, and I love her. And I want to invest in her so much, because she's got the passion and the drive. And she's teachable, like, you know, and she she's interested to learn and curious. And I think, you know, sometimes we get scared, you know, I don't know, my generation x's were were pretty good. But other generations do get scared with millennials. I think it's really about knowing how to harness them. And, you know, if you give them that job satisfaction and make them proud about what you do, then they're going to give you their own. That's what we found anyway. So my team Daniel, just for your information is so diverse in terms of 84% are actually from refugee or migrant background. It's nearly about 86% are female and 24% of my team under 25. So when you think women, migrant refugee and youth, we walk the walk,

Daniel Franco: 38:11

yeah, well done. That's amazing. I'd say we'd be pretty close to saying that I think we've got probably 80 plus percent female, and I think everyone's from overseas, I'm probably one of the very few who like actually, South Australian born and bred in South Australia. Majority of our team is from all around the world. The question I want to ask and before cuz I want to jump into some of your own personal story and journey and entrepreneurship. And I love that sort of piece of the pie as well. But one last question on the corporate social responsibility. What can corporates and ladies in the corporate world do? Like what's the low hanging fruit that they can go? Actually just listen to this podcast with Carmen Garcia? And I want to start doing something for our business. Like what would that what's the first tick box if you could say that or Yep, moving in the right direction.

Carmen Garcia: 39:05

We call them morning teams. So morning t plus m m, standing for morning tea with meaning, having a themed morning tea for the team to come together and talk about diversity or refugees or inclusion and to have that as the discussion point, you know, that's where we can help if you want someone a refugee to come in and share their story, or tap into many social enterprises out there that do cultural food or cultural, you know, Morning Tea Cakes, just as not, you know, we do it anyway. And actually, if you ask the team, bring something from where you're from, you will probably get, you know, an abundance of you know, diverse cultural food, but having the dedicated you know, deliberate conversation to say, let's have a morning tea and talk about multiculturalism or cultural diversity. March is actually harmony month multicultural month, so anyone want To start and tick that box, I would love to see people, you know, having those multicultural morning teas and just having a conversation. And then you know, linked tie us in on LinkedIn, we want to see the post. I'd love to just see that that would be

Daniel Franco: 40:12

a hashtag now. Yeah, we should record hashtag hashtag how many day that is gonna be anyways in it really? Yeah. He's not how many day, how many month? Was it? Was it a month that's dedicated multicultural month

Carmen Garcia: 40:27

is the how many day, and then how many week can you know it kind of just keeps expanding? Maybe it's even just, you know, we want to see corporate champions. That's really what we want to see.

Daniel Franco: 40:36

Yeah. I actually really good idea Gabs springs in some cases and stuff from my end that's made the local Brazilian bakery or something like that. And we will just get fat. And

Carmen Garcia: 40:51

one of the one of the services that we also offer in that soft entry is what we call a taste of culture. And it is like a queue of facilitated team building. So we touched on the unconscious bias, but it's really fun. We get them to do activities, and we give them instructions in like Arabic or something where they you know, and we bring in the food and we hear the stories from refugees. So it's really a team building exercise, but will that cultural immersion, so we can facilitate that. But obviously, that costs money, having a morning tea, and having a chat cost nothing. And you'll find natural influences in the team that say, I really want to do this, I want to lead it. And that's where the boss can say, why don't you give common a cop?

Daniel Franco: 41:32

Yeah, it's brilliant. Actually, I did. We did a my previous employer before, you know, coming out and started synergy IQ, I remember we did a was a multicultural lunch where everyone bought in a lunch or something that was from their, from their country. And this was within government and at the amount that we got in. And also this is like some amazing food that I've never tasted before. And it just opened my eyes to all the different types of cuisines that were out there. So now I'm like obsessed with half of them as well. Sorry,

Carmen Garcia: 42:06

can I tell you a really quick, funny story. And you know, this is what's so devastating about all the rules

Daniel Franco: 42:10

It's a shame, isn't it? Yeah. Peanuts. Yeah, in schools now about food sharing, and allergies and things like that. But you know, when I was at primary school, like I said, my grandparents played a big part in raising me because mom had to do the four jobs. Yeah. And I was packed lunch. And in those days, you put your lunch in a crate, and everyone pulled out their Vegemite and cheese sandwiches. And I had rice and stinky fish, which to me was normal. And I just remember, you know, all these eyes looking at me and I went home and I cried, I'm like, Oh my gosh, why are you giving me stinky food? And so my grandma said, no, no, they just don't know about Filipino culture. So we went to the Asian grocery, we cook noodles, fried rice, you know, spring rolls, and we could bring it to the school. And you know, and the teacher loved it. And got me to stand up in front of the classes, primary school, talk about the Philippines and our culture. And from that the school actually created a multicultural recipe book. So those things we can't do anymore in schools, unfortunately. But we can do it in the workplace. ruin everything.

Carmen Garcia: 43:14

Busy moms. We don't have time for food

Daniel Franco: 43:18

come up with that idea, right. Oh, yeah, I use plastic recycle one that you reuse the container

Carmen Garcia: 43:25

I just take it out of the packaging? I do cut up the carrots and guacamole.

Daniel Franco: 43:32

Yeah, we go into the deficits there. Let's circle back. So first and foremost, before we do move on, you know, kudos for everything that you guys are doing. It's amazing in the community, what you're doing with community, corporate, and everything you've achieved today and what you are going to be doing for the future. But I do really want to circle back because you you have started your own business and you've built a very successful one. So I would be remiss of me to not pick your brain on that. And I really know to the core a how bloody difficult it is to start your own business and, and take that punt. And you're I've kind of got a similar journey, you start out as a consultant and you kind of just build on it and you grow from there. Tell us about your journey and the ups and downs of your life as an entrepreneur. I mean, when you walked in this morning, and I said the morning come and how are you and bloody tired was the words. Like, this is something that we live in, breathe in work life balance can, you know, get entwined? Where it's more it's more work than life? Can you talk to us about your, your journey as an entrepreneur?

Carmen Garcia: 44:41

Yeah, um, you know, it's funny. I never called myself an entrepreneur until someone else did. Yeah, I just call myself a hard working chick. But you know, for me, it really is about solving that problem. Like I'm really passionate. I say it's not what I do. It's who I am. I believe it with every inch of my my body and I believe that, you know, we need champions to have those, you know, courageous conference conversations and take risk. I think for me, you know, it was the appetite of employers, I had positioned my consultancy as more that advisory and architect and building things for them to do, and connecting them with charities and not for profits and to actually implement and deliver. That didn't work. Because, unfortunately, community and charity nonprofits don't understand or speak, you know, business language. And I guess that's where I had a really unique opportunity that I could interpret and give them what they need not compromising my social values in any way. It's just articulation and alignment. So I didn't set out to do what we do. And like I said, people have come to us, I do feel very fortunate that when we focused on results and quality and you know, giving every piece of our puzzle what they need. So the employer gets what they want in a you know, motivated, retained staff member, or refugee has someone who's given them a safety net and a job and open the door to a future. And my team feel like you know, they can live purpose and know that they contribute so much. The best feedback for me is when someone says, Oh, I was on the plane, and they asked me what I did, and I'm telling them and, gee, I feel proud about what we do at Community corporate life, creating that from scratch is so you know, amazing, that's the biggest highlight for me. But definitely so many mistakes along the way. I wish someone had told me to outsource my weaknesses a hell of a lot earlier, aka, I love my accountant. Agree. And just things like that, like you do assume you have to do it all I know where my talent lies now confidently, but in the beginning, I didn't. And I tried to do everything I didn't, you know, trust, people would really have my best interest or my mission at heart. So that was really hard. That's why I say, you know, the biggest lesson I've learned is really, you know, asking for help is one of the most courageous things we can do. Both as a new mom, you know, but as an entrepreneur, like you don't know what you don't know and surrounding yourself by people that have walked before you does give you confidence. There's a way through it. I feel like we're in the tunnel, I can see the light. There's still a few spiders and stuff on the floor that I'm sure gonna bite me on the way. But I can see it. And that's we're about halfway through the tunnel, I think.

Daniel Franco: 47:36

Because you're the sole director, sir. Yes. Yeah, even then you've not even got anyone to bounce some ideas off and feedback. It's gone through it.

Carmen Garcia: 47:44

I've got good mentors and coaches, and you rely on your mentors. Yeah, people that give me like real Franken feel. You're full of shit comment?

Daniel Franco: 47:53

I think it's so needed. Yeah, I think since I started getting like business coaching and mentored and everything like that the business has just gone. from strength to strength. I think it's because you're learning someone else's experiences. I mean, why wouldn't you want to go down that avenue, I do find that having a business partner there to bounce some ideas off is beneficial. So putting myself in the shoes of Oh, my God, this always relies on me, especially when you're trying to raise a family in the same token can be quite a tough situation. So

Carmen Garcia: 48:24

I'm really lucky, you know, my wing woman. Heck, who's our national manager for employment partnerships. We worked together. When I mentioned I was the CEO of Maesa. And she happened to marry someone had moved to Sydney. And so it kind of worked out. Yeah, having having her and, you know, really, I feel like she's in this with me. And everyone in the team. Actually, to be honest, I know, we all want the same thing. We're rowing in the right direction, which is exciting.

Daniel Franco: 48:51

It's you touched on purpose, and you can clearly hear your purpose within every word that you speak you. Do you think that is the the absolute most fundamental thing when starting your own business?

Carmen Garcia: 49:03

Yeah, the determination to solve a problem. That's something like I said to me that unemployment rates just not acceptable. Like, why by default, because they're a refugee. Yeah, you know, so I, yeah, I mean, I get up at 4am to do some work before I have to get the kids up and take them to school. And people like, seriously, and the staff are like, Yeah, we get emails at 4am. But I want to because there's opportunities and employers are coming and they're wanting questions, and I want to get back and open as many doors as I can. So that is the purpose. That's what gets me out of bed at 4am. Knowing that I'm going to change a life with what we do. And I feel so proud about that.

Daniel Franco: 49:41

Yeah, nothing else in a day. No, not. Did you have any business experience before starting your own like, was it just that you started the consulting and then moved into that?

Carmen Garcia: 49:53

Yeah, my mum ended up getting requalified in Australia and set up her own law firm. So I helped her in that and I did some consultancy for private sector where you would argue I actually kind of was in there, but no, no formal training, just problem solver.

Daniel Franco: 50:09

So what what advice would you give to a young up and comer who's looking doesn't have to be someone who's looking to start their own business? What advice would you give to them right now is outsource your weaknesses that

Carmen Garcia: 50:25

outsource your weaknesses, but solve a problem that matters to you. Like, I think a lot of people are like, Oh, FinTech widgets, blah, blah, blah, because that's the thing. But if you don't care about that, you're not going to really, I think the chances of succeeding is lower. Whereas if there's something that really bothers you, whether it's on a social or a practical level, that you think I wish we had this, go and solve that problem, because you'll be a lot more committed. And yeah, bring people on the journey, I think in Adelaide was so fortunate, we actually want to see each other succeed, that's probably a bit different from to the other states, like, we're proud when other South Australians get the accolades. And, you know, they represent us all, when we say South Australia's name in lights, so I do feel we have a bit more of a supportive ecosystem here, that we need to tap into.

Daniel Franco: 51:15

It's um, it's funny, though, the, it seems like a lot of these sort of startup programs and entrepreneurial programs and are always aimed at the tech world, right. And you say, when you want to solve a problem that is that you're connected to, will help you be more successful, I feel like there's a part of that which will help you feel more fulfilled, as well. It's not just just from a success point of view, but doing something in which you're connected to create so much more enjoyment, it doesn't become more who becomes this is, this is what I love doing. Whereas the tech world is, there's opportunity for cash grab, right, you can build something really quickly, it can be valued at a certain point you sell out and then and then you're not really ever connected to the purpose that or the potential unless it is changing lives, right. So there's that I think there's a real fine line there. But it is something that I I do empower people to go and look at too is, is really find something that does fulfill you and that you want to get up at 4am. On I get up before him, but I understand exactly where you're coming from?

Carmen Garcia: 52:21

Well, it's really interesting, Daniel, because, you know, everyone says we want to support more female founders, and this is where the social entrepreneurial area is something that, you know, people still can't grasp, I think because like community corporate, we're a Proprietary Limited Company. So we're commercial, that the whole point of a social enterprise is your commercially viable, and, you know, f1, 21, for us was about 83% was social procurement and sales, he wasn't grants and donations and philanthropy, we are a business, we are just completely driven by social mission. Majority of the social entrepreneurs are women, when you're trying to solve a problem, like unemployment, or homelessness or disability, you're going to have a bit more stamina to stick at it, then I'm trying to find I don't want to offend anyone, but you know, I'll just go widget. Yeah, you know, trying to fix something, there is a difference. But, you know, governments of all persuasions struggled to get our social enterprise, you should talk to social services, you're not really business, we are in business, we're just doing business for good. And I think that's a really important conversation that we need the corporate Australia to also be those buyers of social outcomes when, you know, you purchase your catering, you know, you're helping the environment, because it's a sustainable supplier that they're using. And they're creating jobs for young people. Like that's really important that we need the business community to get on board with.

Daniel Franco: 53:39

Absolutely, there's a saying that I love and it's if you're not willing to sell, then you forfeit the right to make a difference, right. And I think that's what you have to do. If you're out there building a business that is socially responsible, the more you can have more impact. If you have the ability to get out there market and building a commercially viable product. I think the non for profit absolutely works as well. But it's just, yeah, I'm with you. I like

Carmen Garcia: 54:03

there's a role to play don't get me wrong, we're very lucky to have a strong social sector, but social enterprise is different. It is about commercial viability and social impact. And we just need a greater light shined on that in Victoria, Queensland, you know, they've had the government's really invest in this, and I sit on the social enterprise council here in South Australia, and we're new and we're trying to raise this awareness where, you know, even social procurement government should be the biggest buyers of social outcomes, and they should harness this market and really help the entrepreneurs in this space. So yeah, sorry, I had to do that plug. elections coming up, you know, we want change, we want to see softer social change for

Daniel Franco: 54:48

the, the it's interesting point, because, you know, I mentioned there's a lot of tech programs out there, there's a lot of, you know, Southstar all these sort of all these sort of Like gatherings if that's the right word, where tech people go and they learn entrepreneur, and let's get the tech world and love 14 and all the above, is the one for social impact you.

Carmen Garcia: 55:13

And [inaudible audio] No, I think there's some amazing individual programs and like leaders really trying to bring people together. So there's good work. Yeah. But in terms of, you know, bricks and mortar government backing? No, I think that's definitely something Yeah, we should definitely look at, because it is feeding off each other. You know, being entrepreneurs, small business owner can be a lonely game, you know, you don't have those people to talk to. So, you know, even though it's hard to, it's hard to justify why government should fund this. But networking and connecting is actually a really big part of, you know, creating those ideas and solutions.

Daniel Franco: 55:50

Absolutely. Last time we spoke, we talked about work life balance, and the lack of life balance. Being an entrepreneur, if you had your time again, given all you've achieved, and everything that you've done with your business, would you do differently? Or would you go all in? Again?

Carmen Garcia: 56:14

I wouldn't do it differently. Not in the broadest sense. My children know, you know, I have with them it's quality, not quantity is what I say, with my staff. It's quality, not quota, you know, some other quality, because that's how you manage time, but I've brought my kids to a lot of the missions, when I've gone and done aid work in the Philippines or orphanages, and, you know, I really try and help them understand what I do and why I do it. And to create their values, but also get them to understand I have to balance my time. So I think they're very understanding they also probably milk it. And it's like, oh, I remember when he couldn't come tonight. Can I please have this dog?

Daniel Franco: 56:58

But yeah, I know.

Carmen Garcia: 57:00

Ashley's nine and Cooper's six.

Daniel Franco: 57:04

The The question was aimed at the hustle, part of the business in in the point that can you be successful? from a business point of view? Can your business be successful? If you are not?

Carmen Garcia: 57:28

What's the I believe in part time? Questioning? That's where I'm going? Oh, seven. Yeah. I mean, I worked through Christmas, to give the team a rest. But there was still things to do. So I kind of held the ship. And I didn't go on leave to like, 17th of January, but everyone's back. So they just expected things. I didn't have a luxury to go. I'm not doing it. But I still have to be responsive. There is an accountability when you're an entrepreneur and the owner that people don't understand until they're, you know, walking in your shoes. But that's why you've got to love it like that. Otherwise, you could get really disheartened by what how much people expect of you. But you know, I feel comfortable with that

Daniel Franco: 58:09

now. Yeah, sure that party can't be a part time entrepreneur. I like that. What's one thing that you've learned about yourself? running your own business?

Carmen Garcia: 58:20

My hate is tougher than I look. I, you know, I have thick skin. But I also take advice and feedback really? Well. I think you know, I've always tried to be a high achiever. And, you know, I always got positive reassurance. I never got critical feedback, like you could do this better. So when people have the guts to say common, this is great, but you could improve that I love it. I'm a sponge. I want critical feedback because I want to be better and create a better way and stay ahead of the curve. So I've learned that yeah, I can take it bring it bring it on. I want to

Daniel Franco: 58:56

the resilience yesterday spoke about the the another part of your career, which really intrigues me is the top 40 world where you were the inaugural winner, what was it about the business that helped you get over the line is one of the normal winners like what what was the most appealing thing to the judges at that time?

Carmen Garcia: 59:19

I think it was about the risk taking and showing courage in believing in backing something that quite that we've spoken about. At and I think you know, for me, the the solstice fun and 40 awards gave me the permission to shine like when I won that I only had about four staff and you know, a lot of the awards community multicultural but to get a business award it was like that. I am in business woman like they see that in me that was an accelerator to then grow. So I love these awards. I still sponsor a Social Impact Award among the judging panel nominations opening soon. Yeah, and for me, the the alumni and the asset of bringing to South Australia's amazing under 40 entrepreneurs and leading minds is going to be the key to our future in South Australia. When you look at board composition from government, it's something like 83% over the age of, you know, 50 or 60. That's not to say that's a bad thing. 83% that doesn't reflect our demographic. So why are we not encouraging young entrepreneurs that might articulate things a little bit differently? To bring these ideas if we want to stay? You know, leaders?

Daniel Franco: 1:00:27

Here? I couldn't. I couldn't agree with you more, I think Yeah. Especially at board level. And yeah, we need some fresh ideas coming through much more innovative ideas and diverse ideas is especially part of that. What what is the, what does the future look like for you? And in super exciting? Yeah.

Carmen Garcia: 1:00:52

i Yeah, I'm so excited about our future as a collective as a community. And as a country, I've yeah, I've do feel COVID presented some unique opportunities that has really fast tracked our cause, you know, when we, when I started in 2014, a lot of people didn't even have a diversity and inclusion manager or department or anything like that. So we've definitely come a long way. But I mean, I do hope I can't imagine I'm ever not going to be in the business, at least to some extent. I mean, we're moving offices, I'm still picking out the paint color and stuff, because, but I'm doing it. And it's not because I'm a control freak. A lot of people think that I'm doing it because I want my team to be proud, I want things to be perfect for them. Because I'm so grateful. I couldn't do it without all the people that community corporate. So the reason I want to, you know, pick the plants and make it look pretty is because I want them to feel valued. And I think I do if I continue that and have the time to still do that and grow the business and sell the story, then yeah, I think I'm going to be a very happy woman.

Daniel Franco: 1:02:00

That's what what I'm okay, as a business owner, I'm starting to think actually, it isn't, there's an opportunity here is, you know, knock on the door and, and see if there's any opportunities within my own business. But if there's that opportunity, what does the process look like if I was to, or if anyone was to sort of ring community corporate and say, hey, look, we want to start exploring this world, what does that first part look like?

Carmen Garcia: 1:02:26

Listening? Yeah, really understanding their motivators, what they want to do, I mean, I see ourselves as providing solutions, but really understanding their ambition, their appetite, their restraints, or you know, anything like that, getting a sense of them, because everything is different. Every model or initiative program, you know, we have a white label framework, but, you know, we what I cares, you know, program looks like compared to Woolies, or, you know, a tech Pro, it's different. Yeah, because it's customized. So really listening and understanding where they're coming from, to be honest, anyway, it's also where we can field out people that just want bums on seats and don't really care. And you know, we are in a position where we have a luxury not to work with them. So we want genuine partners that, you know, want to have some influence and reap the benefits of investing in social impact.

Daniel Franco: 1:03:18

What some of the most common questions that you get when someone wants to reach out in that first,

Carmen Garcia: 1:03:22

do we have to pay you? Because I assume, you know, social impact, it's free? Yeah. But we have a payment by outcomes. So that's where again, for success for us isn't ticking a box and a bomb on a seat success for us is those retention rates, we want to see the the ambition and the result of the company in a retained employee refugee stable work. That's what success looks like. So that's how we get paid, the better the outcome, the more we get paid. The longer the outcome, the lower we get. And

Daniel Franco: 1:03:53

how do you how do you reach out to the migrant and refugee market? Is it to people I work with? How do you get in contact with these people,

Carmen Garcia: 1:04:03

the biggest feeder is word of mouth with the hundreds of refugees that we've helped, they tell their friends, but we do work with the you know, the Employment Services Network, we work with ethnic communities, we work with local counts, everyone really, like it's really open. That's where our screening process is quite, you know, rigorous, and we kind of do all the extra heavy lifting there, but we promote everywhere. And you know, there's a lot of people, like I said that, that might have applied through an employment provider for a job but on this digital recruitment online, they don't get a chance. Whereas we can then work with them, get them job ready, and then they get a job. So you know that it's like we're a safety net for some of those community members that don't get it on the first go, and we build their confidence and resilience and the best thing people say is, I feel that someone believes in me now and we all need that. Right? We all need someone to say I believe in you. That's what those awards meant to me. You Giving a refugee a coach, you know, you can do this. You walked five days across the desert, you can speak to a customer in English. Let's do this, like, you know, really motivating them and giving them the confidence to know we've got their back. If it doesn't work, we'll be here.

Daniel Franco: 1:05:16

Yeah. Amazing. I love it. All right, am conscious of time we're past the hour mark. So what we do is we'll start jumping into some quickfire questions. These aren't generally, they do not generally go quickfire so we can deep dive and ask and I would really ask 10 different other questions out of these. But if they're really basic, so don't don't fret. Were big readers here, big learners and big rows here at sujihiki. And creating synergy podcast, what are you reading right now?

Carmen Garcia: 1:05:50

Um, I was reading scaling up. That's kind of where my head's at. I have put that to the side, because we've actually I've actually co authored a book with Professor Stuart Jones and Dr. Danced us on social impacting impact investing and Australian perspective that was published by Routledge once that is that it's out? Yeah, I have it, because it's the UK. So I haven't physically actually received. But people know about it, and it's out there. So what's that called, again? Social Impact investing in Australian perspective. And it's really about, you know, again, how are we looking at some policy and pragmatic solutions to, you know, mainstream social impact investing, and look at what those regulatory frameworks need and how we evaluate and have those social outcome metrics so that investors can feel confident in investing in social good, and buying social outcomes. So I think it's the way of the future. It's, it's really exciting, great stuffs happening overseas. Australia's definitely had a spotlight on it pre COVID. Yeah. And with elections coming up, I'd really like to see government's, you know, recasting their eyes to social impact investing and what that means for Australia.

Daniel Franco: 1:07:04

Or I'm going to digress from these quickfire questions. What are what are they doing overseas, that's so interesting. And,

Carmen Garcia: 1:07:09

well, they're issuing, so for example, social impact bonds. And it's like a bond, like any bond, but the government who is ultimately the beneficiary of welfare savings, for example, will be the one to pay the dividend back to the investor. So you still kind of hit the 8%, right. And when you think about it, you know, social impact investment isn't affected by interest rates, or you know, currency and all that kind of other typical things, you can often get a result faster in terms of the maturity. And it helps someone like me, like, don't get me wrong, I feel very humbled that I've had investors come to me and say, We want a piece of the business, but they want equity. And my concern is, you know, everyone starts by saying, because I strongly support social impact and your cause. But you know, somewhere along the lines, it will come down to the bottom line, and I don't want to have to be influenced by, you know, shareholders that actually sway the focus of our business, we are who we are, because we're so focused on social impact. So our social impact bond through this investing model will enable the government when I deliver all these welfare savings, which, you know, we're up to, like 56 million in you know, Centrelink alone, give a dividend back to our investor who can upfront me capex, build my super infrastructure and, you know, digital capability so we can scale up. That's kind of how it work. We are just the provider, we deliver the outcome, but we're saving government money, and investors can help us early on. Yeah, it's cool. That is cool. I'm not a finance person. But yeah, and I'm probably not the one on the team.

Daniel Franco: 1:08:42

But it's logical reward those they

Carmen Garcia: 1:08:45

still get a return on investment. And you know, make it impact. Yeah.

Daniel Franco: 1:08:51

So going back to these quick five versus not so quickfire questions, what is one book that you feel that stands out from the crowd? So what like, what have you gifted? What have you recommended more to more people than any other book?

Carmen Garcia: 1:09:08

Oh, because I love you know, supporting women, women supporting women, the Randi Zuckerberg pick three, I think, you know, when you are a business woman, you've got a family, you know, there's always this blanket of guilt. You know, that's really good. It talks about you can have it all, but just not every day. And it's really managing your own expectations to feel satisfied and accomplished with what you do on that day. Because yeah, you can't be everything to everyone. And so, I feel it's a real, you know, it gives people a sense of, okay, this is this is okay, I can do this. And I think a lot of women in business really need that.

Daniel Franco: 1:09:45

So Randi Zuckerberg, yep, pick three. Yeah, not related to math. Yeah. Oh, yeah. There you go. Yeah, brilliant. Um, it? No, I'm gonna ask 10,000 questions and we'll move back to you do audio book like do? How do you manage reading? Because that's one question I get asked a lot. I think so busy. How do you read so much? And it's like why every moment I get out so I audiobook, the audiobook.

Carmen Garcia: 1:10:11

Yeah. Audio in the car. I live in my law, the handle, so it's a bit of a dry Yes. And pens and the roadworks haven't helped lately. So listening to that in the car when the kids aren't in there because

Daniel Franco: 1:10:22

I want to get a phone call because yeah,

Carmen Garcia: 1:10:25

but like I do like old school reading you know, just sitting there on the balcony and you know, a glass of wine reading a book and I'm a highlighter I am you know,

Daniel Franco: 1:10:35

represent you I get told off by so many people is I can offer a book a go through it. And it's like highlight and scribble.

Carmen Garcia: 1:10:42

I hate learning the books because then I never get it back and I have to highlight. Yeah, I just often I buy them the book. Yeah, I'll be lucky. I'll get you on your copy. Don't take

Daniel Franco: 1:10:54

my deep dark secrets. Yeah. No, brilliant. So what's one actually no podcast? She listened to any other any other recommendations? Other than synergy? IQ? Yeah.

Carmen Garcia: 1:11:07

Nice. And Jackie. I'm not really

Daniel Franco: 1:11:11

no. Okay. It's good. Sometimes people say, Oh, no, check out this podcast. And I'm a big podcast listener as well. What's one lesson that's taking you the longest to learn?

Carmen Garcia: 1:11:26

What's one lesson take me the longest to learn? I can't do it all. Yep, probably. I can't do it all. Yeah. And that the help stuff that I said, Yeah. But it's actually courageous. Seeking help is actually an act of courage. So

Daniel Franco: 1:11:41

here's a question. And this is one that I struggled with mine. My delay, but early on. And I think every new startup entrepreneur, business owner, whatever, when you first start off goes through this. It's like I just can't afford I can afford down sources. How did you overcome that hurdle?

Carmen Garcia: 1:11:58

Well, I'm Filipino Daniel. So we believe in fathering. So people would do things for me and I would do things for them.

Daniel Franco: 1:12:06

Absolutely. The power of negotiation. If there was three people that you could invite for dinner, who would they be?

Carmen Garcia: 1:12:15

Well, definitely the two seats would be for my son and daughter, Ashley. Okay,

Daniel Franco: 1:12:19

so let's assume the family are there. Okay.

Carmen Garcia: 1:12:23

Oh, well, another one was gonna be Nelson Mandela. But I would love them to also learn from his stories. Your family

Daniel Franco: 1:12:29

and your husband will be there. Well, I didn't her husband Nelson, and two others then. So Nelson. That's amazing. He's Yeah. Yeah. J

Carmen Garcia: 1:12:45

I don't even know. Simon Sinek is pretty cool. At the moment, like I'd pretty, I think he would really be motivated and teach them about the Golden Circle. And look, I really like Randi Zuckerberg. I've seen her live in Sydney. She's, she's just really authentic and has a different perspective. But a really good businesswoman. This so there's so many people I do like, you know, having people in the room that I can learn from that that would be really hard. But to me, you know, dinner and time with family is lucky I got to choose. That's that's who I'd love to speak to. And really, you know, that's important to me.

Daniel Franco: 1:13:26

Well, yeah, I'm interested in the Nelson Mandela and your kids scenario, what's one thing that you'd want Nelson to teach your kids in that? In that one conversation? Like, what's one thing you would want them to learn from him?

Carmen Garcia: 1:13:40

The sacrifice? Yeah. You know, I love my children, but kids these days, this, they expect so much. And I just want them to understand how lucky we are. And you know, and but sacrifice and like us as entrepreneurs, there is sacrifice. But gee, it brings the best rewards, you know, it's worth it when, when it doesn't cost you anything, you don't value it. And so I really want my children to understand, you know, you know, the apartheid and the courage that he had to stand up what it cost him, but then the effect that he changed for a world like amazing, yeah,

Daniel Franco: 1:14:24

one of the greatest. So what's some of the best advice that you've ever received?

Carmen Garcia: 1:14:33

Don't be a woman in a man's pantsuit. Okay. Well, in terms of you know, don't try and be someone that you're not like, you know, you can see I'm an extrovert I mean, I'm a double day personal, professional, like it doesn't change who I'm like this 24/7 Like people that know me. They go yes, yes, she is. But yes, you know, I think in the early days, like I really tried to conform to what I thought you know, an entrepreneur business woman needed to look like needed to wear. But that didn't serve me because it wasn't authentic. And this passion that I have didn't come through, it was very controlled. So my best advice is you've got to own own yourself and be authentic.

Daniel Franco: 1:15:15

Yeah. Here to that now a bit of a strange old question. If you had a time machine, where would you go?

Carmen Garcia: 1:15:28

Who's gonna listen to this copy? I'm a work hard play hard. So I feel like I would probably want to go back and check out Woodstock. Fun. Because yeah, I'm not really a regret person. Like in terms of, you know, every mistake I've made in history I've learned from so there's nothing I need to think go back and retrospectively fix. But I guess the you know, there are certain eras Actually, I'd go to the dinosaur age to get a gift for my son.

Daniel Franco: 1:16:00

dinosaur bone. Yeah, yes. I'm not an actual dinosaur.

Carmen Garcia: 1:16:04

But yeah, after. Like the Andes, and crazy adventure. Yeah. But, yeah. I think, you know, learning from history in the written word is a lot better than you know, having experienced some of those times. I'm scared. That's quite intimidating. I can't imagine how life was,

Daniel Franco: 1:16:28

you know, thinking about the future? I'm in the Ford band.

Carmen Garcia: 1:16:32

Right. Yeah. But you know, I feel like we learn from our history. Yes, true. And yeah, I don't know. I don't know how I feel about the future, except for it's exciting. And it's unknown. And I'm easily adaptable to change. So bring it on.

Daniel Franco: 1:16:46

So you're comfortable. Yeah. Ambiguity of it. Oh, she's great. She had one superhero power. If you could choose one superhero power, what would you choose?

Carmen Garcia: 1:16:53

read people's minds?

Daniel Franco: 1:16:54

Oh, no. That's that's scary for me. Yet too much going on. I'm struggling with my own.

Carmen Garcia: 1:17:01

My own thing is, I can't I can't fix a secret. Yeah. So if I know exactly what the problem is, I'm very confident that I'm resourceful. And I'm gonna find a way to solve it. But not knowing and not really understanding. If I had that superpower to read people's minds. Yeah. It would be heaps advantageous.

Daniel Franco: 1:17:24

Oh, no, that'd be advantageous. I just could you shut it off? Could you turn it off? And on? Oh,

Carmen Garcia: 1:17:28

yeah. I'm really good at compartmentalization that have to be skilled, and I can design out to people leaves me like,

Daniel Franco: 1:17:35

I'm from the Woodstock. Yeah.

Carmen Garcia: 1:17:40

Yeah, no, definitely not a good example of

Daniel Franco: 1:17:45

free spirited, that's.

Carmen Garcia: 1:17:48

I love music. That's probably like, I love music and the spirituality of that. And just and I find music really relaxing. Like I, I am one of those people that you might see kind of singing and dancing in the car. Because I get into it. I love it. It's a filipino, karaoke queen.

Daniel Franco: 1:18:04

Yeah, Gabs is, she is anyone that knows music as well, it's Gabriela, as well. She's always bopping around. Thank you very much for your time today. It's been absolutely amazing. And thank you for everything that you are doing. You are creating impact. There are people in this world that really want to sit out and really change the world. And I feel like you're on that mission. And you're doing that. And you're changing people's lives, which is very, very, like we're all fortunate for the work that you're doing. So yeah, from behalf of era, thank you for everything you are doing.

Carmen Garcia: 1:18:40

Thank you so much for this opportunity and platform to share our story. It's been great

Daniel Franco: 1:18:45

not to worry. And one last question before we head off, where can we find you?

Carmen Garcia: 1:18:51

So our websites community corporate.com.au. But LinkedIn is a great place to find me or you can email the team at info at community corporate.com.au. And we'll get back to you because we believe in exemplary customer service.

Daniel Franco: 1:19:05

Brilliant as you should. Thanks, guys. We'll catch you next time. Thanks for listening to the podcast. Or you can check out the shownotes if there was anything of interest to you and find out more about us at Synergy iq.com.au. I am going to ask though, if you did like the podcast, it would absolutely mean the world to me if you could subscribe, rate and review. And if you didn't like it, that's alright too. There's no need to do anything. Thank you guys. All the best.

Synergy IQ: 1:19:33

Thank you once again for joining us here at creating synergy. It's been great spending this time with you. Please jump on to the synergy IQ Facebook and LinkedIn page where the discussion continues after the show. Join our mailing list so you'll know what's happening next at Synergy iq.com.au. And of course don't forget to subscribe to this podcast. And if you really enjoyed it, please share it with your friends.