Mentoring program helping Victorian businesses grow with confidence | News and articles

Published: 24 February 2026

Small businesses across Victoria are developing their competitive edge thanks to practical, personalised support through the Business Skills Mentoring Program.

We had a chat to some of our regional tourism businesses who are taking part in the program to see how it’s going.

Lucy Bromley is a second-generation operator of All Seasons Houseboats in Mildura. It’s a family-run business since 2001. Lucy grew up immersed in the tourism industry. She lived on-site in the caravan park for 20 years, which her husband Brad, also a participant in the mentoring program, now helps run.

Lucy says the program helped her pause the daily grind and look at her business through a broader, more strategic lens.

‘This program has really encouraged us to take a step back and look at our businesses holistically, rather than just focusing on the day-to-day operations,’ she said.

‘As operators, we often work so much in our business that we forget to look at our business overall. Mentoring has given us that crucial perspective,’

‘Running tourism businesses means learning on the spot, especially with seasonal pressures and customer demands. The mentoring program has helped us adapt and grow both personally and professionally.’

Her advice to prospective participants is to space out the sessions. The program provides 3 one-hour mentoring sessions over a three-month period.

‘Spacing out our sessions every 5 to 6 weeks has helped us achieve what we discussed without feeling overwhelmed – it’s been a really valuable approach.’ Lucy advised.

Lucy and Brad aren’t the only Victorian businesses who are seeing great benefit from the program.

Grant and Kerry Williams founded Accessible Accommodation 7 years ago after experiencing firsthand the challenges of finding appropriate accommodation for family members with disabilities.

They created an inclusion and accessibility accreditation program. It verifies accessible properties, lists them on their website, and makes inclusive travel more seamless for guests with disabilities.

Beyond listings, the business offers:

• inclusion training
• workshops, and
• consulting services to help hotels improve and modify their accessible amenities and educate the tourism industry on inclusion and accessibility.

Grant and Kerry bring valuable experience from their past careers in engineering, business development, and marketing. However, starting and running Accessible Accommodation without prior business ownership experience was a significant challenge.

‘We were under constant fear the business wasn’t performing, and we couldn’t predict what was going to happen. We’d constantly worry if we were doing the right thing,’ Kerry said.

‘The biggest outcome of the mentoring program was realising we were doing so much better than we thought. Having that reassurance gave us confidence to focus on what was working.’

They had 3 sessions with their mentor. Grant and Kerry learned that they needed to shift from being reactive to proactive in how they managed their business.

‘The program helped us to focus on where we get the most value. Instead of just advertising for the sake of it, it helped us understand where we get the best return on investment and refine our marketing strategies,’ Grant said.

‘We also learned that our biggest profit margins were actually in consulting and training, so we started focusing on growing those areas of our business.’

The program is helping small business owners to build capability, plan for the future and strengthen their competitiveness.

With personalised mentoring, sector‑specific expertise and a focus on real‑world business challenges, it offers every participant the chance to grow with confidence.

Expressions of Interest are open until 27 March 2026, or until places are filled. Now is the perfect time for more Victorian businesses to get involved.

Apply now via the Business Victoria website.