A new opportunity to ignite your director journey

Aspiring directors, senior executives and managers are encouraged to apply for a new opportunity recently unveiled to AgriFutures™ Ignite Network members. 25 passionate rural leaders will be enrolled into the three-day Australian Institute of Company Director’s (AICD) Foundations of Directorship program.

AgriFutures Australia Managing Director, John Harvey said this golden-nugget opportunity is just one of the ways the organisation is working to develop the leadership skills of young people in our rural industries.

“Ignite Network members influence, they make change and they ignite new ideas into our agriculture sector. We want these people to be on boards, panels and in executive positions but we need to give them the key skills to help them on this journey. The AICD program builds the foundations of these important skills,” said Mr Harvey.

The AICD program provides a comprehensive overview of the main components of directorship including governance, finance, strategy and risk. Participants will learn how to interpret financial statements, identify key causes of strategic risk and how those risks can best be treated and build their knowledge on effective decisions that will minimise personal risk and maximise contribution.

Ignite Network member Guy Coleman said the opportunity to complete the AICD course is something the entire Ignite Network should jump on.

“Even if you don’t want to be on a board, the skills you’ll learn in this program can be applied to anyone’s day-to-day role,” said Mr Coleman.

AgriFutures Australia Manager, Communications and Capacity Building, Georgie Davies said the idea to enroll 25 people into the course came from a Facebook poll.

“We wanted to listen to our Ignite Network members and ask them what skills they wanted to deepen and extend. In the Facebook poll, an overwhelming number of people said they wanted to develop an understanding of the key roles, functions, duties and responsibilities of boards and directors and the AICD program seemed like a perfect fit to help develop these skills,” said Ms Davies.

The program will be held in Sydney from 21-23 May 2019. AgriFutures Australia will cover the cost of the three-day program. Applicants who live outside of Sydney will also be eligible for a travel and accommodation subsidy. To apply, applicants must be a member of the AgriFutures™ Ignite Network Facebook group and must have an involvement in our agriculture sector. Details on how to access the application form will be found in the ‘announcement’ section of the Facebook group.