Tegan Summers is using her vast experience to help other women. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Small business coach Tegan Summers is drawing on decades of diverse experience to help shape the next generation of local entrepreneurs, leading a revived mentoring program for Griffith Women in Business (GWIB).
After growing up in Griffith, the 47-year-old has carved out an eclectic career path: studying acupuncture, working in hospitality overseas, and then returning home to take on roles in the local wine industry.
She is perhaps best known in town for managing Leading Edge Computers for a decade and transforming the store.
“I was able to build it up from a small repair shop to a multi-service IT business,” she said.
Her success led to a senior role at the company’s national head office, before she stepped away for a career break – a move that ultimately reshaped her professional direction.
“I was talking to friends who owned small businesses. They were bouncing ideas off me and I was providing advice on strategy, and I thought, ‘This is what lights me up,’” she said.
Ms Summers has since reinvented herself as a small business coach, working with enterprises on everything from customer service and recruitment to finances, staff training and social media.
“The coaching I do with businesses is to get them to a point where the company is re-sellable as the end goal. But the systems you put in place to achieve that also make it easier to run today,” she said.
“Setting goals and seeing improvement is what makes me tick. I’m not a sales coach – it’s more about business operations. I love solving problems.”
Now serving as GWIB’s vice-president, Ms Summers is using those skills to relaunch the organisation’s mentoring program, something she says is vital in today’s business landscape.
“I had peers and mentors who helped me and I found that invaluable. But a lot of businesses don’t have that these days, so it can be isolating. I see enormous value in having mentors,” she said.
The program is already underway, with applications from both mentors and mentees received in March.
“It’s going to run over four months. In April, we’ll match everyone up, in May we’ll have our welcome dinner, and in August we’ll have our graduation dinner,” she said.
“In between that, we’ll have two group events, and we ask that each pair has two one-on-one sessions between those to do their mentoring.”
GWIB has previously run mentoring programs featuring figures such as marketing expert Sonia Casanova and musician and health advocate Larissa Pfitzner.
“People are matched based on their experience and goals,” Ms Summers said.
“It’s rewarding getting involved in something like this, and it benefits the mentors as much as the mentees.”
While the mentoring program is aimed at women, Ms Summers emphasised that men are welcome at most GWIB events.
“Our mission is to build a strong community of professional women in Griffith and surrounds, and I think men are a part of that and can help us,” she said.
Never one to stand still, Ms Summers made it clear her own journey was still evolving – with her next move likely already taking shape.
“Watch this space,” she said.
More information about the mentoring program is available on the GWIB website.
