Mollie Taylor shares her experience of the Eco Entrepreneurs Fund
Mollie Taylor, one of the winners of the Eco Entrepreneurs Fund in 2022, shares her experience of the process.
With her prize money, Mollie was able to invest in important new equipment for Four Acre Farm, a no-dig, synthetic chemical-free market garden in Ringwood. But the benefits of the Eco Entrepreneurs Fund went beyond just funding.
"The scheme gave me a boost of confidence," shares Mollie. "It is always nice to hear that people like your idea and are willing to invest money to support it. That confidence and the funding allowed us to hold some public events at the farm - like a moth night and other things to show people what we were doing.”
Not only did the Eco Entrepreneurs Fund provide Mollie with confidence and funding, but it also pushed her out of her comfort zone. "I had to present to people outside of the sector in a persuasive way, which was challenging but also incredibly rewarding."
The scheme also provided valuable networking opportunities. “It was also really great for connections and networking - there were a lot of other people with some schemes that were more advanced than us, and some that were not as developed as us and hearing them talk about what they were doing, their ideas and their approaches was inspiring.”
This year, Four Acre Farm is expanding its range of no-dig veg boxes for customers and has plans for a wider range of educational and public events at the farm.
