TAFE Queensland’s “Build a Better Business” course is an innovative, flexible delivery course that pairs students with industry experts knowledgeable in contemporary issues students face daily. Designed for aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners, this accelerated, highly subsidised, 16-week program creates unique business and financial plans, and builds the skills required to be successful in their businesses. Participants require no formal qualifications other than 12-months of experience in business. The Build a Better Business course is a brilliant adaptation of the traditional TAFE model, promising to support the current and next generation of business owners and entrepreneurs in Queensland.

The global beverage industry has answered the call from Lana Svitankova, Ukraines first ever Cicerone, from VARVAR Brewery based in Kyiv. Lana launched #DrinkersWithUkraine, a fundraising effort that includes a 'solidarity brew', a 'Ukraine Anti-Imperial Stout RESIST', with an open-sourced beer recipe developed by displaced Ukrainian brewersDonations to the Red Cross from its sale is all that is asked in return.Award-winning UK brewery Siren Craft Brewery, based in Berkshire, recently re-released MAVKA, a collaboration with Lana in 2018, with 100% of proceeds going to effort the humanitairan crisis. MAVKA is a mythological forest guardian from Ukrainian folklore.www.drinkersforukraine.com/#SOLIDARITY-BREW 

 After suffering 3rd-degree burns from an explosion and house fire, Jeremy Kronk dedicated his life to preventing grease fires in commercial kitchens.Although Australia has strict regulations on kitchen exhaust hoods, ongoing maintenance is difficult, and the cleaning of them is almost always out-sourced, and reliant on chemicals agents.Kronk founded ‘Shepherd FIlters’, a wool based, biodegradable, disposable, fire-resistant grease filter.Wool is naturally resistant to bacteria, mould, and mildew, absorbs and neutralises many harmful pollutants from the air, and has such an affinity for oil, that 98% of grease particles are caught BEFORE accumulating inside the hood.www.shepherdfilters.com

Devils Thumb distillery, established in just 2020, won the prestigious World's best GIn (Navy Strength) last week at the World GIn Awards.Based in Port Douglas, Devils Thumb is built upon the foundations of local provenance, pristine Daintree water, centuries old traditional methods, with no added sugar or flavour, and tropical fermentation.Over-looking cane fields and under the gaze of the looming Devils Thumb Peak and its notoriously severe hiking trails, Devils Thumb Distillery is one of a handful of North Queensland distilleries challenging the paradigm of cold-climate production, and embracing the abundance and power of a tropical location.