Creating a more inclusive economy

The Mill House Ventures

The Mill House Ventures is committed to the growth and impact of social enterprises in the Canberra region. We offer programs that support the emergence and growth of social ventures, provide access to professional services, and act as a thriving hub for changemakers to connect and grow their innovations.

Our Partners
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1,2K+ Project Done

Small Until High Projects

About Mill House

Mill House Social Enterprise Programs

The Mill House programs offer support and guidance through all stages of starting a social enterprise. From 2 hour introductory programs to our 4 month social enterprise accelerator, our programs are designed to guide emerging and existing ventures through the landscape of social enterprise.

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social enterprise accelerator graduates

ABOUT Mill House Clinic

The Mill House Ventures Clinic

Overview

The Mill House Ventures Clinic assists Social  Ventures by pairing enterprises with students at the University of Canberra to assist in identifying and addressing problems faced by the social enterprises in the areas of marketing, digital health and more. 

WHY IS IT CALLED THE MILL HOUSE VENTURES?

The Mill House Ventures in Canberra is a cooperative that supports for-purpose entrepreneurs in using capitalism to positively impact vulnerable people in the community. Through grinding and refining ideas, they create projects for the community's benefit, continuing the tradition of cooperatives as the oldest form of social enterprise.

OUR SERVICES

The Mill House Ventures Social Enterprise Accelerator Programs

Catalyse

We ‘work out’ new and aspiring social entrepreneurs by inviting them to pitch their very early stage business and impact narrative to a panel of experienced industry professionals mentors. This session helps the entreprenuer decide ‘what’s next’ at a time when it may be unclear.

Grist

Our flagship accelerator program is based power by Social Trader. It consists of four months of intensive social enterprise business development and market validation led by experienced facilitators and mentors.

Refine

The REFINE Incubator is for established social ventures who engage Mill House for tailored business consultancy for a 3-6-month period.

Mill house clinic

Provides ‘just in time’ pro bono business advisory support to address specific enterprise challenges to sustainable enterprise growth.

Bring Your Ideas

Our Approach

The Mill House Ventures is an integral part of the wider Canberra Innovation Ecosystem. Our focus lies in fostering economic development while generating tangible and traceable public benefits. The enterprises that engage with Mill House are social enterprises, a form of hybrid between for profit and for purpose organisations – they function both as charitable endeavors and businesses operating within competitive trading markets. We use many of the tools of the lean start-up business model as we believe that these tools are useful to focus an innovator on early engagement and validation of their idea with their target market, developing minimum viable products and building knowledge and skills required to scale. We work with enterprises at any stage from idea to established and have programs tailored for anyone at any stage of their journey.

social impact | regional innovation

our purpose

The Mill House Ventures exists to support the development and growth of a thriving social innovation ecosystem in Canberra and the region. We believe that such an ecosystem benefits when individuals are experimenting with an innovative business model called social enterprise. Social enterprises are hybrid organisations that seek to reduce their reliance on income from grants and philanthropy through the pursuit of commercial business models. Individuals that are passionate about solving problems in the community using hybrid models often face barriers to business education and investment. The Mill House Ventures programs are designed to address this market gap in business advisory services in the ACT and region. Offering a place for new ventures to thrive, Mill House clients can choose to work collaboratively through skills development initiatives in the Social Enterprise Accelerator as well as access professional services through our REFINE program and the student-led Clinic.

Dedicated Support

WHO WE SUPPORT

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WHO WE SUPPORT

So far, The Mill House Ventures has consulted with over five hundred individuals in our region. More than 60 ventures have graduated from our Accelerator programs.
We work with established businesses that are interested in incorporating measurable social purpose into the DNA of their enterprise.
Existing community organisations that rely principally on grants and philanthropy come to Mill House to iterate alternate revenue models.

Client Feedback

We provide our clients with the most innovative and effective

So appreciative of Cindy and the Mill House. I’ve learned so much in the first three days. Looking forward to collaborating over the next three months and beyond!

Ben Drysdale

What a valuable resource for our community. Though Canberra-based, Cindy & her team have made it their mission to support our region extensively. We here in Bega are very grateful for the encouragement & support and very much look forward to working more with Mill House down the track!

Cayce Hill

Great to have you in Canberra Cindy, can’t wait to meet you in person!

Brett Murray

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