Business of Biodiversity
pilot program
in partnership with
What is it?
A six month course for environmental champions within the private sector, who want to find ways to connect their business to nature-centred solutions. This course will connect your capital and community efforts with meaningful and measurable nature-centred solutions.
By the end of this program you will have 3 shovel-ready projects to pitch to your CEO or team, and the confidence and connections to make it a reality.
The course is delivered by the Odonata Academy and Marnie Hawson.
The pilot program of the Odonata Business of Biodiversity Program is now closed for 2023. Please join the waitlist for the next intake by filling out the form below.
We will be in touch with every business who signs up for the waitlist in the meantime - we can have a one-on-one discussion about what you would like to achieve, and if we can help in the meantime, before the next course, we will!
Why this is important to your business?
Modern day professionals want to change the world. There is no better time than now to connect staff with experiences in nature.
Employees want more from their careers, and now expect a greater emphasis on social and environmental impact within their jobs. It is predicted that the workforce of 2030 will be made up of 32% Gen Y (aka millenials) and 34% Gen Z.
A recent survey by NatureBoss discovered from a sample of 500 Australian Gen Z and Millennial workers, the following fascinating data:
"63% would not work for an organisation if it had no commitments to making the world a better place, and a further 93% valued an organisation’s commitment to protecting the environment when considering them as an employer. 89% of Gen Z workers and 92% of millennials were likelier to stay at an employer long term if it had a strong environmental initiatives."
You will have access to Marnie Hawson, the Odonata leadership team, and their combined network to support you through this program.
More is expected of businesses
The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TFND)
Nature loss poses a major risk to businesses, while moving to nature-positive investments offers opportunity.
That's where the TNFD framework comes in – it's all about using market-led and science-based approaches to help companies and financial institutions make decisions that consider nature.
The TNFD also has a Knowledge Hub - a curated collection of the latest resources and market insights on nature-related risks and opportunities. Use the Knowledge Hub to grow your understanding of why and how to integrate nature into decision making.
Hi, I'm Marnie!
Hi, I'm Marnie!
I’m in business to bring back nature.
I just happen to also be a photographer. But I’m also many other things. Photography serves as the business I can create impact through, and I’m SO passionate about helping others figure out how to run more impactful businesses.
Fun fact - I have an Honours degree in Zoology, studying sexually transmitted diseases in birds. After that I became an environmental scientist for almost a decade. I now have a goal of turning my business into a social enterprise that feeds into a non-profit, that then funds land for conservation. This is a work in progress, and will be a life’s work.
In the meantime, I’m helping other people incorporate biodiversity into their businesses in partnership with Odonata.
Delivered in partnership with Odonata
Odonata’s vision is that by 2050, Australia's once threatened species are thriving outside of sanctuaries in healthy, productive landscapes.
They collaborate with entrepreneurs and business leaders to demonstrate how their skills, services and products can be used to help save threatened species.
Their knowledge, their network, their experiences: by joining the program, you are joining a network of change-makers.
Some Odonata projects
Reconnecting people to our natural places and engaging them in conservation and species recovery is an important aspect of Odonata’s work. They are working towards reconnection through partnerships with major NGOs, regenerative farmers and landowners. See below for a small taste of businesses that Odonata has incubated and now runs.
Melbourne Skyfarm is a collaboration between Odonata, Biofilta and The Sustainable Landscape Company that has seen the transformation of a 2000-square metre rooftop carpark into an urban farm and environmental oasis in the heart of the Melbourne CBD.
Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Centre
A centre dedicated to undertaking research in restoring habitats, completing ecosystems and further expanding to ensure threatened species populations can be protected from extinction.
NatureBoss is an online marketplace that connects corporate teams with environmental groups to facilitate meaningful experiences in nature. Their technology is revolutionising the way that businesses can book their staff in for experiences in nature, that really make a positive social impact.
Project Biome and Farmer’s Footprint
Project Biome is the parent organisation of the highly respected and paradigm disrupting charity, Farmer’s Footprint. The project is informing and inspiring thousands of consumers, farmers and stakeholders to the potential of regenerative agriculture.
Program components
1.
FORTNIGHTLY ONLINE SESSIONS
6 x 90 minute masterclasses over a six month period, each delivering a key component of the course.
2.
INSPIRING SPEAKERS
Innovators and entrepreneurs from the environmental space will speak at each session, sharing case studies, their journey and learnings, while answering all of your burning questions.
3.
GET SUPPORT
Gain access to the tools you need from Marnie Hawson and the Odonata team, helping you to drive change within your organisation.
4.
PEER-TO-PEER SUPPORT
Connect and collaborate with like-minded environmental enthusiasts from the private sector, as we support one another to achieve our environmental impact goals.
5.
FORM PARTNERSHIPS
This program will introduce you to environmental groups that align with your cause preferences, as we support the facilitation of partnerships.
6.
GRADUATION CEREMONY
At the end of the course we will deliver an in-person event, bringing together the cohort to present their ideas to a network of environmental change-makers.
Key takeaways for your business:
By the end of this program you will have 3 shovel-ready projects to pitch to your CEO or team, and the confidence and connections to make it a reality.
We will endeavour to actively set your organisation up with environmental partners and projects that align with your objectives.
Be part of real world impact on threatened species.
Brand repositioning inline with key environmental causes.
At the end of the course, join our alumni program and growing network of business change-makers.
Considerations for how your business can get involved
Work with threatened species to combat extinction.
Understand how your organisation can address climate change.
Sanctuary ownership, including carbon offsetting.
Explore strategic partnerships with land owners.
Establish new environmentally focused business models.
Every business can work alongside nature, using your specific skills, talent and location to make an impact for nature and also be profitable.
ESTABLISH A SANCTUARY
The most bold and effective way you can work with Odonata. A sanctuary has a tangible impact on reversing the extinction trajectory on threatened animals, immediately.
TRANSFORM YOUR BUSINESS
Work with entrepreneurs, biodiversity specialists, and farmers to enhance the value creation and opportunity of businesses through corporate sustainability.
BRAND AND MARKETING PARTNERSHIPS
The Odonata team works with businesses to engage and inspire through conservation.
Program timeline
We are running the program as a pilot, starting in the last quarter of 2023 and concluding in early 2024. There is no fee for the pilot, but it will cost upwards of $3,000+gst in future programs.
Here is an overview of what can be expected from our
six month pilot.
Session 1: Finding your values
Determine where your organisation is currently at in your journey to supporting the environment, and identify the values that relate to your business.
Hear from Nigel Sharpe (environmental impact investor, conservationist, business innovator and founder of Odonata), Sam Marwood (CEO of Odonata) and Marnie Hawson about their journeys to incorporate biodiversity into business.
Session 2: Telling your story
The importance of telling your story and making your environmental impact part of your brand. Inspirational entrepreneurs will speak with our cohort about the purpose-driven businesses they have created, and how to successfully incorporate impact into their story and marketing.
Session 3: Innovation & Intrepreneurship
We will explore innovative approaches to achieving your environmental goals for your business. Hear about tangible case studies that will inspire you to match biodiversity projects with your business values.
Session 4: Making it happen
This is a practical session where we workshop how you are going to achieve your objectives for the environment, who you might wish to partner with moving forward, how to make a lasting relationship with them, and how to estimate a budget for the project.
Session 5: Into Nature
A visit to Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Centre to learn about the impactful work that the centre does.
Session 6: Conclusions & Graduation ceremony
Presenting our progress via a 4 min pitch at the Graduation ceremony, followed by awards ceremony and cocktail event
Apply Now
•
Apply Now •
The pilot program of the Odonata Business of Biodiversity Program is now closed for 2023. Please join the waitlist for the next intake by filling out the form below.
We will be in touch with every business who signs up for the waitlist in the meantime - we can have a one-on-one discussion about what you would like to achieve, and if we can help in the meantime, before the next course, we will!
Kind Words
Odonata has developed a close relationship with Creative Urban Design Studio CJ Arms, transforming their business to be a conservation force for good.
“Together, Odonata and CJ Arms have supported tangible investment in alignment of our work and values, enabling a purposeful organisation of greater potential to emerge. Biodiversity and wildlife restoration has become embedded in the hearts and minds of all staff at CJ Arms, propelling a culture of innovation, high performance and community connection. The results have been outstanding in unlocking people’s imagination and identifying opportunities.”