When Jacquieline Hannan and Sarah Duncan met, never did they think they’d be starting a business together. Likely because they were just 9-year-olds and more concerned with playing games in the school yard than entrepreneurship.
It wasn’t until 30 years later, after spending 20 years in their respective careers that they decided that it was time to turn their friendship into a business partnership.
‘We always thought we’d be radio presenters,’ Jacquie remembers. ‘We just thought we were so funny, and were having so much fun, so we wanted to share that with other people.’
‘We were also in a band at one point,’ laughs Sarah. ‘ We just had so much energy and wanted to create something fun together.’
And while they pursued different careers after they each graduated high school, Jacquie working in accounting and finance, and creating her own firm, while Sarah worked as a journalist before becoming a social media marketing manager, they always assumed that they’d work on another project together some day.
20 years into their careers, with loads of experience and the same excitement they always shared to start a new project together, the pair decided to create the company Crecera.com.au.
‘We have such complimentary skills,’ says Jacquie. ‘I’ve worked supporting businesses with their tax, business planning and financial support for many years, and Sarah is a digital marketing, content and social media expert. We just knew that we had some important knowledge to share with small business owners, especially during this period of financial stability everyone is going through.’
The pair caught up for lunch one unremarkable Tuesday, and before they’d even finished their meals, a whole new business idea had formed.
‘We even came up with the name!’ Sarah laughs. ‘It’s Crecera, which in Spanish means “to grow”’, and they chose it because not only do they have ties to Spanish (with Jacquie being of Filipino background and Sarah having spent some of her career living in Latin America). “It just seemed a great fit for what our intention is – forming community and developing business growth,” says Sarah.
After interviewing a series of small business owners for market research, business partners Jacquie Hannan and Sarah Duncan made a sober (but not unexpected) discovery.
‘Not that it surprised us, given the current economic climate and cost of living crisis, but we through our research we found that 30% of the businesses we reached out to were unsure if they’d still be in business in two years time,’ says Jacquie, a Fellow Certified Practising Accountant and globally recognised expert.
‘A third of those business owners said that lack of motivation and inspiration would likely be the reason they shut up shop, with a whopping 60% revealing it would likely be due to lack of support,’ she says.
That’s one of the reasons the entrepreneurs, industry experts and long-time friends decided to put their knowledge and expertise to good use, and developed an online learning platform, coaching up and growth network, Crecera.com.au.
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‘The amount of times we’ve seen our favourite businesses share news online about shutting down has been really difficult to see, so it just seemed logical for us to put our knowledge together in the form of short, self-paced and affordable online courses,’ says marketing expert, Sarah Duncan, who left her corporate marketing job earlier this year.
‘I work with hundreds of business clients, assisting them with their tax and compliance, but I wanted to be able to offer them even more actionable information en masse in a really cost-effective way to help with their business growth and development – which is where the idea for self-paced courses came from,’ Jacquie says.
Sarah is also excited to share the knowledge she’s developed being a former journalist, and award-winning marketer for a variety of businesses including Expedia Group and Wotif.com, over her 20-year career.
‘I’m so passionate about being able to support businesses and teach them how to turn their digital marketing strategy from non-existent to next level, without stress and overwhelm,’ she says.
As well as their online courses, coaching opportunities, free webinars and mentorship programs, the pair are looking forward to hosting in-person events around their hometown of Brisbane, to assist local entrepreneurs with getting the most out of their businesses.
For more information please visit Crecera.com.au or follow them on Instagram (@crecera.au) or TikTok (@crecera).