Hub’s annual Flexi Impact program supports impact-led entrepreneurs and teams in Australia by providing them with an elevated workspace experience. It’s one of the impact initiatives that we’re most proud of – and will continue to be an area that we focus on growing.
Here, we check in with some of our 2024 Flexi Impact members for a quick update on how they’re finding Hub.
Nick (far right) with his team
Nick McEwan-Hall, Founder of The Mental Health Coach
Tell us a bit about The Mental Health Coach.
We offer Mental Health First Aid training to everyone from Year 7 students and upwards, all across Victoria and Australia. We also do a lot of work supporting those bereaved by suicide, and will be launching a new product in that space later in 2024.
What do you hope to achieve in 2024?
We’re looking to grow our reach across Australia, as well as deepen our connection with those who are affected by mental ill health.
How has Hub supported you in your goal/work?
We now have a place to gather and work! As a small team who work remotely, it’s great to have a central place to come together and meet face to face, and work on our goals. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the Flexi Impact gave us the infrastructure and a safe space to meet and brainstorm in person. And because of that, we were able to go so much deeper in our discussion – giving us the momentum that sparked new projects.
What do you love most about Hub so far?
It’s such an inspiring space, designed well with a truly caring feel. The vibe is right, and the coffee is the icing on the cake!
The Hey Lemonade team
Brian Borowsky, Director of Growth & Operations at Hey Lemonade
Tell us a bit about Hey Lemonade.
Hey Lemonade is a leading stress and motivation management app that provides quick, evidence-based pep talks to help manage modern stress and build resilience in a practical solution-focused way.
Our library of very situation-specific, bite-sized (3 to 4 minutes in length) pep talks – delivered in the voices that you choose – helps prevent smaller things spiralling into bigger issues across your work and personal life.
What do you hope to achieve in 2024?
2024 is our year of scaling! We spent 2023 building our product and creating a few very powerful variations of the app, as well as testing some important hypotheses about how our users interact with our content, how to engage and retain them, and what kinds of activities drive acquisition.
Now we’re ready to start to press down the accelerator and drive new customer acquisitions across our business customers, individuals, and schools. We’re finding that mental stress is only increasing at Australian workplaces, schools, home lives, frankly everywhere. So we feel like the time is right for our kind of solution.
How has Hub supported you in your goal/work?
Hub has provided an opportunity for our remote team to come together and work collaboratively much more frequently than we were able to previously. In addition to being a workplace away from home, the opportunity to work together has been a tremendous value. Even if we’re not doing a “meeting” at a particular moment, being able to work shoulder-to-shoulder has helped us be more productive, and probably more creative, when we’re at Hub.
The various locations across CBD have been really useful, as well, as we frequently have multiple appointments in the city in different locations. So we can start the day at one Hub location, head off to a meeting, settle into a different Hub, and then attend another meeting nearby. It’s also been useful to coordinate with our teams’ varying schedules – some days it is easier to collaborate at Southern Cross, others at Flinders Street. One of our founders had a longstanding onstage role at Princess Theatre, so having a Hub location 500 metres away was a great coincidence, and really useful!
What do you love most about Hub so far?
Definitely the variety of meeting spaces has been wonderful. And by variety I mean both the differing sizes as well as the different formats. Some of the meeting areas are quite fun and just have a great vibe and I just enjoy working there (a couple of the open meeting spaces at Southern Cross come to mind).
But I suppose the real answer is occasionally being able to participate in the Friday drinks. It’s a nice way to end the week, have a bit of a chat that starts out about work but then gradually slides into a more casual and personal conversation as we bridge from the workweek to the weekend.
Mariyam
Mariyam Sayers, Founder of kandu sustainability
Tell us a bit about kandu sustainability.
kandu’s mission is to democratise sustainability knowledge, enabling organisations to start and accelerate climate action. Every job is a climate job. Through knowledge sharing and tools, we help your people have informed sustainability conversions and drive meaningful, financially sustainable change. Our blended learning includes aligning sustainability strategy with operations, carbon literacy, target setting, and greenwashing.
What do you hope to achieve in 2024?
Expand our reach, bringing sustainability knowledge to more organisations and continue enhancing our learning programs, whilst keeping it accessible and impactful. Our focus is on helping small and medium organisations, often without internal sustainability resources or the ability to afford consultants. So keeping the program accessible whilst enhancing it is an important goal for us in 2024.
How has Hub supported you in your goal/work?
One of our values at kandu is “leave no one behind”. This value is about collaboration and connection to amplify impact, and for a just transition that is inclusive and collaborative. Hub embodies this. When you meet new people at Hub, there are two things they often say: ‘let me think of who I know who I can connect you with’, or ‘I do xyz and let me know how if I can help’. This has not only expanded my network in a meaningful way, but has also led to opportunities as well as amazing learnings.
What do you love most about Hub so far?
For me, Hub is a positive environment, not just a space. I love that it is designed to be frictionless for collaboration and there are so many intentional steps such as sourcing from other B Corps. And let’s not forget, the great people that make the Hub experience so great.
Learn more about our Flexi Impact program – and see our full 2024 Flexi Impact members list.
Want more Flexi Impact member stories? Hear from Emma from JAM the label and Nikki from MyMuse.
