Shining a light on Wollongong

While spectacular displays lit Sydney’s city buildings during the Vivid festival, the spotlight was focused on Wollongong at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

Advantage Wollongong (now Invest Wollongong) and the University of Wollongong hosted an Alumni networking event at the Darling Harbour venue, with 100-plus delegates updated on the city’s ongoing transformation.

Accelo co-founder Eamonn Bell (pictured above) was the guest speaker at the 7 June event, detailing how his professional services software business has grown from its Wollongong base to include San Francisco and Denver offices.

Skilled UOW graduates – a key factor in choosing to locate in Wollongong – were contributing to the company’s success while the city’s lifestyle was encouraging employees to stay longer, he said.

Read more about Acello’s choice to come back to Wollongong.

Wollongong City Council Economic Development Manager Mark Grimson detailed the advantages of living and working in Wollongong, updating Alumni on the changing culture of the city and the trend to knowledge-based services.

“Wollongong has a supportive business environment, offering competitive rents and wages and higher than average staff retention rates.”

“We have a diverse economy with a number of large national and international companies part of the landscape, including NEC, Mercer and the NSW State Emergency Services,” Mr Grimson said.

Alumni were encouraged to spread the word about Wollongong’s advantages among their networks.

Find out more about Wollongong’s key opportunities or contact the Invest Wollongong team to discuss the specific needs of your company.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor CR Gordon Bradbery AM, Graham Lancaster from Lancaster Law and UOW Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Alex Frino.