For all the name-sayers - you will be eating your words as these two companies show the world what rural Queensland is capable of and in particular the talents in Charters Towers, should they be given the opportunity to believe in themselves and have others believe in them too.

I am immensely proud of The World Incubator. It has exceeded my expectations in every way. Speaking to well-known businessman, Jack Cowin, a mentor of mine about the startups in the Incubator, he said "if you have one success story, then you are doing well." Now that was coming from one of the most astute business people on the planet. In fact, a billionaire who has made his money by both working hard, and bringing existing brands to Australia and investing in others.

We have success stories and we are only 5 weeks in. Can you believe it? I can. I believed in Charters Towers and I believed that if people were given the opportunity, they could be successful. They just needed to think outside the box and these two startups have done exactly that.

What this has taught me is to make sure you never listen to people who don't believe that anything is possible. To ignore those who don't support important, life critical initiatives in communities that are needing your help. To understand that changes in local Government, may diminish the support that your given, but that is not enough to turn your back on people that are looking for some inspiration and someone who is willing to believe in them.

These projects are bigger and more impressive than even my own business. Do you know how proud that makes me feel? The fact that I can give these people, out of my own pocket a financial contribution to get their projects off the ground and how grateful and appreciative these people continue to be every single day that they have been given an opportunity.

Our doors are open. 40 or 50 people walk through every single day and they see our startups at work. Some work fulltime in the The World Incubator, others only when they can as they have families to support and bills to pay. We don't care. We are completely 100% there for them. The people walking through the incubator keep asking, "why can't we have this in our town?" They can. Our IP is for everyone. This is our way of giving back and we believe that more people should do exactly the same if they can afford to.

This town, my town, is going to look a whole lot different in a few years time simply because of Russell Broad and Nicky and Bernie Kruger. Their undying support of the incubator, and their brave work to get their ideas off the ground is truly inspirational. 

A special thank you must go to Frank Beveridge, Mark Crawley and the Hon. Bob Katter, MP. They believed in us. They believed in the people of Charters Towers. Also, to Charles Shewring. OMG! This man gives 60 hours a week to the incubator and is working his butt off - because he cares. It's as simple as that.