“We saw a wide range of applications from businesses including those operating in the visitor industry, agriculture, creative industry, tech sector and others,” she said.
Of those 80 applicants, six received grants of up to $4000 each.
One of those businesses was garden designer Considerate Design. Owner Sam Moore said the grant put the infrastructure of his business a year ahead of where he expected it to be.
Moore said Considerate Design worked predominantly with residential gardens.
“People usually have some sort of problem area or some aspect of the garden that just isn’t working for them,” he said.
Moore started his business as a gardener so the equipment he relied on were gardening tools.
However, he has been transitioning into designing, meaning his work relied much more on computers rather than tools, and his old computer wasn’t cutting it for the work he was doing.
“As I’m doing more and more larger scale gardens and designs I basically needed a computer that was going to run the software I needed to do these jobs, and what I had didn’t cut it,” he said.
With the money from Amplify, he will be able to upgrade his computer, as well as purchase a second monitor and generally upgrade his office space.
Without the grant, he estimated it would have taken around a year to 18 months of saving for him to be able to afford the new computer.
“By that time I may have missed out on a few jobs, and I wouldn’t be able to provide the services that I want to the standards that I want to,” he said.
The grant came as a gift to Moore, as he got word he would be receiving it just before Christmas.
“It’s just amazing... I’m almost a year ahead of where I want to be.”
He hoped the business would help people understand the importance of a garden to a home, and how they could become spaces people wanted to spend time in.
“So often gardens are relegated to a space with lawns, and I pay someone $30-$40 every couple of weeks to just mow the lawn and keep it tidy and it’s just such a shame.
“I just want to help people realise that and make it a reality for themselves,” he said.
The other successful applicants for this round of grants were Glass Artist Claire Bell, Macblack Timber, Paige’s Book Gallery, Top Draw Lingerie, and River Traders Markets.
Each application to Amplify remains live for 12 months, with funding allocated quarterly, so remaining applicants may still be successful and additional businesses are welcome to apply at any time.
Hepi said applications for the next round of funding are already open and close on March 3.
