Welcome to RED’s December 2025 eNewsletter. We’re very happy to have met so many entrepreneurial people over the year and caught up with our new and existing RED Founders.
Season's Greetings!
Firstly, if we don’t see you before January, the RED Team wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays and our very best wishes for 2026.
Our thanks go out to those who are working over the traditional holiday break to ensure that we all receive our essential services and supports.
Too Long? Don't Read? (TLDR?)
This edition of our eNews is longer than usual so we have included links below so you can access each section instead of having to read it all the way through! Click on the headlines below to go to that section:
Book Now! Free RED Micro Enterprise Workshops in 2026
SAVE THE DATE: Fully-Funded Introduction to Microenterprise Support
- Sharing our RED Experiences
- Growing Our International Relations
- Launching the RED HUB
- RED Online!
- RED at SASY
- RED Community Events
What's Happening to RED's Funding in 2026/27?
Red Founder Spotlight: Ray Ray's Kitchen
Our Thanks to the Essential Services Workers
Holiday Closure 2025/26
The RED Team will be away from the RED Hub from Monday 22 December, 2025 and returning on Wednesday 15th January, 2026.
Our website will still accept bookings, enquiries and so forth during this time; however, our emails will not be monitored over the break.
Book Now! Free RED Micro Enterprise Workshops in 2026
There are just four more fully-funded RED Microenterprise Workshops between now and 30th June, 2026 and we urge anyone, with lived experience of disability and considering self-employment, to book in to one of these FREE Workshops now.
Red Workshops
Dates & Times:
Tuesday Feb 24, 2026
Tuesday Apr 21, 2026
Tuesday May 19, 2026
Send us an email at [email protected] if you want to know more about how you, or your client/familymember/participant can get involved and benefit from the hands-on development of a RED microenterprise.
SAVE THE DATE: Fully-Funded Introduction to Microenterprise Support Workshop
On Thursday 5 February, 2026 we're going to run a comprehensive, fully-funded workshop for EVERYONE who wants to know EVERYTHING about microenterprises and NDIS Plans.
The RED Group is frequently asked about how to build a functional and supportive microenterprise resource around entrepreneurs with lived experience of disability. These enquiries are being sent to us from:
- OT's, Speechies, Social Workers, Psychs, Counsellors and all manner of AH professionals
- Support Coordinators & psychosocial recovery coaches
- Mums & Dads, Nanas and Grandpas... all the families!
- Guardians & Advocates
- Centrelink/Services Australia personnel
- Disability and Aged Care support providers
- All levels of Educators and Career Support Providers
- And, of course, NDIS Participants themselves!
We are currently compiling all the feedback and questions we've received this year and inviting experts to address these matters for the benefit of all who support a microenterprise run by someone with lived experience of disability (or are thinking about it).
If you attend, you will learn (or learn more) about all the things the RED Team is frequently asked about, such as:
- The "other" benefits of microenterprises experienced by people with lived experience of disability
- What we mean by the "natural nexus" between disability and entrepreneurship
- How others have supported their clients'/family's microenterprises
- Expert recommendations for developing NDIS Plans around microenterprise (and other) goals
- How to build a successful microenterprise support resource
- Building and benefiting from a network of shared microenterprise supports for entrepreneurs and their families and other allies.
A separate email will be sent early in 2026 to fully explain the speakers and workshop content but today you're strongly encouraged to book it in your calendar before 2026 hits the ground running!
RED 2025 Highlights
Where do we start?! There have been so many highlights this year… we’re grateful for every one of them and we know that our RED Community of Founders and Allies are too.
The following sections summarise our highlights, and we just know we’ve missed something (or someone!) out so please let us know and send us an email at [email protected].
· Sharing Our RED Experiences
This year the RED Community has been generously sharing their RED experiences and microenterprise stories so that others may learn more about the ups and downs of starting one’s own business and being involved in our community of Founders.
We’re uploading these to the RED website. We recommend everyone checks out these interviews with REAL people telling their REAL stories and sharing their REAL advice for people starting out in self-employment or developing a ‘side-gig’.
Please share these videos with others too, especially if you (or someone you love and/or support) is interested in founding a microenterprise or supporting a person with lived experience of disability to start one.
If you’d like to participate in a RED Video interview or have some ideas for new topics and experts, please talk to your RED Enterprise Coach or contact us via [email protected]
· Growing Our International Relations
This year RED hosted two groups of disability and social enterprise professionals from the Asia and Oceania regions. The workshops were sponsored by the Australian government through the Palladium Group and the majority of our visitors had lived experience of disability. They were interested to learn more about the benefits of microenterprise and self-employment, the RED Program and ways of increasing social and economic inclusion in their countries and workplaces.
The RED Team benefited immensely from these interactions by learning more about others’ cultures and organisations and making great connections and building our networks.
· ILC Grant Re-Funding for 2025/26
As you’re probably aware, the RED Program has been re-funded via the Federal ILC Grant until 30 June 2026. This meant that we have been able to continue to offer our microenterprise workshops and coaching at no cost to people with lived experience of disability.
The RED Group and those who support it financially and in kind, are incredibly grateful for the ILC Grant and the unique opportunities it provides our current and future Microenterprise Founders and those who love and support them.
· Continuous Improvement in RED’s Communications
We are always seeking new, more accessible and more inclusive ways to communicate with our RED Community members and our other stakeholders. This year we have aimed to use affordable technological developments to produce clear communications, provide information in ways that best suit an individual’s learning and communication preferences and use video and online channels more effectively.
We have launched a new website and online learning portal, along with increasing our interviews and other content that describes the genuine experience of the RED Program.
· Recognising RED's First Founding Members
At a RED Community event in September, the RED Group formally recognised our valued First Founders; the individuals, teams and allies who have participated in the RED Program since its Australian inception in 2019.
Each person attending received a Limited Edition RED Founding Member Badge and a RED Founder Certificate recognising their participation. These were sent by mail to those requesting it (and let us know if you want yours but didn't request it! Email [email protected]).
· Launching the RED HUB
Co-working has always been a part of Arthur’s & Guy’s (The RED Group's Co-Founders) vision and in September, we launched the RED Hub at an event where Minister Nat Cook MP (SA Government’s Minister for Human Services, Minister for Seniors and Ageing Well & Member for Hurtle Vale) formally opened this unique, dedicated space.
Located in Welland, at 4/81 Grange Road, our RED Founders can now book a space to co-work, share our resources and accessible spaces and desks, and participate in their coaching sessions.
FIND US HERE: 4/81 Grange Rd, Welland SA 5007, Australia
Early in 2026, we will share more ways for our Founders and allies to book and use the RED Hub to work on microenterprises.
· Now you can participate in RED from anywhere!
While we employed 2025 to provide more supports, allyship, and opportunities for our Adelaide metropolitan Founders, we haven’t forgotten our regional and interstate RED community members and providers who also need to make enterprises more accessible.
In September we launched RED Online and now the RED Experience can be accessed online – from anywhere with a reliable internet connection.
This is currently undergoing user testing (by new RED Founders, with lived experience) and we will continue to adjust it so that the learning platform can be as accessible and useful as we can make it. If you know of anyone who has been unable to access the RED Program, let us know (via email at [email protected]) and we'll connect them (for free!) to RED Online, in return for their feedback on its accessibility and inclusion.
Standby for our next eNewsletter for details on how everyone can access RED Online.
· RED at SASY
For those who aren’t aware of it, the Specialised Assistance School for Youth (SASY) is a unique secondary campus that provides a “safe place where young people can reignite their interest in learning through holistic educational experiences that improve wellbeing”.
This year, the RED Team ran some Rapid Enterprise Development (RED) workshops and 1-to-1 coaching sessions with SASY’s entrepreneurial young people. They shared their microenterprise concepts (some already up and running) for upcycled jewellery, hoodies and fashion, bespoke bags, wellbeing programs, art and crafts. The range of these was incredible and the skills and knowledge of the workshop attendees and Founders was equally inspiring. We are grateful for the opportunity to meet and support these young people and this unique approach to secondary education.
Feedback from the attendees and SASY Team was positive, and now the RED Team will continue to support SASY's Young People and their microenterprises, in different ways, into the future.
· RED Community Events
You’ll not be surprised to learn that we love an excuse to get together with our RED Community – and the people who support us to make enterprise accessible for us all.
We’re always on the look out for these opportunities, like affordable markets, parties & lunches, panels & interviews with our microenterprise Founders and supporters. You can help us to identify these and make the most of them with our RED Community.
Your suggestions for these opportunities (at your own workplace or others') are most welcomed and we investigate and act on every one we receive. If you hear of anything that may be of interest to the RED Community, email us at [email protected]
What's Happening to RED's Funding in 2026/27?
We don't know if the NDIS ILC Grant's financial support will be continuing past June 2026... but we are delighted to announce that RED will still be charging along! Once the Grant is discontinued, we are presuming that our RED Founders and those who support them will need to align their Goals and NDIS Plans with RED's online and in-person supports, and fund these via participants' NDIS Plans.
So we're planning for this eventuality now, and on February 5th, you will hear more from Arthur & Guy (The RED Group's Co-Founders) about ways to continue with RED (or begin with the RED resources and supports) to achieve people's goals, using NDIS Plan resourcing and expert-informed, early planning.
RED Founder Spotlight: Ray Ray’s Kitchen by Ray Goodacre
Each newsletter we are going to highlight one of our RED Founders, and today it's Ray Goodacre. If you would like to be featured in this way, please send us an email via [email protected]
The RED Team is so happy to see Ray Goodacre’s Ray Ray’s Kitchen microenterprise thriving and growing, since starting up with the RED Program in 2022.
Ray’s story began with a young lad from NSW, working as a qualified Cook at nursing homes, pubs and clubs, and who moved to SA in 2019. Ray has since become an NDIS participant and he is driven by his desire to give back to his local community and supporting others in the Scheme, because the NDIS has made such a positive difference to his life today.
Ray explored microenterprise and the RED program on the back of an OT’s recommendation, and progressed with excellent Plan Guidance from his Support Coordinator and assistance from his Support Workers, family and others.
After undertaking the RED Workshop and 1:1 coaching, Ray Ray’s Kitchen began with 1 day of cooking classes a week. In his own kind words, Ray says “RED changed my life through purpose and feeling proud”.
Ray and his support team are now running 3 days of classes each week; on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays! It’s been Ray’s hard work, his engaging and warm approach to inclusive cooking and passionate dedication to his microenterprise mission that enables this unique business to thrive and grow.
Ray Ray’s Kitchen’s cooking classes provide the NDIS community with more than just cooking experiences and accessible recipes; every session offers opportunities for social engagement (everyone sits down and shares their meals) and skill-building (participants and support workers are encouraged to repeat their learning at home). Ray’s approach to planning, shopping, preparing, cooking and tidying up in a safe and inclusive environment provides good, freshly cooked meals and builds participants’ confidence and skills.
In Ray’s words, as the Founder of this successful enterprise, “this is not about the money, even though it all helps, I feel a sense of purpose and of giving back to the community that been so good to me”.
We encourage Support Coordinators, OTs and other NDIS Providers to support Ray Ray’s Kitchen and your participants/clients by investigating how Ray Ray’s Kitchen will increase opportunities for people to reach their goals of learning independent skills and building social connections (under the Community and Social Participation NDIS support category) and arranging for a conversation or booking in for a “Come ‘n Try” session via the Ray Ray’s Kitchen website.
And please follow Ray Ray’s Kitchen on socials via clicking on the icons below:
Wellbeing Supports Over the Holiday Break
If you require urgent, wellbeing support and your providers and other support resources are not available, please consider the following services:
- Lifeline 13 11 14 (24 hours)
- 1800 Respect 1800 737 732 (family violence support, 24 hours)
- Parentline 13 22 89 (support for parents and carers, 8am-midnight).
If it’s an emergency, contact 000 for police, fire and rescue or ambulance.
Our Thanks to The Essential Services Workers
The RED Team thanks and appreciates all those who keep our Essential Services running while many of us take some holidays during December and January.
If you know of, or see someone working during the Public Holidays, we encourage you to take a moment to express your thanks and let them know they are doing a much appreciated job in your community.
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