Risk and reward

By Kath Gannaway
YARRA Junction became home to the 207th Bendigo Bank community branch when Yarra Junction District Community Bank Branch (YJDCBB) opened its doors last week.
Hundreds of people, the majority of them ‘mum and dad’ shareholders in the new venture, attended the official opening on Monday 25 February.
The opening ceremony left no doubt that ‘community’ was the driving force behind the two-year campaign to get a community bank in the district.
The audience, which included representatives of the Bendigo Bank, McEwen MP Fran Bailey, Shire of Yarra Ranges mayor Tim Heenan and councillor Monika Keane, was treated to a spectacular program of entertainment by five local schools and later gathered for a party in the park.
Steering committee chairwoman Jaqui Hall proclaimed her heartfelt thanks to the risk-takers who had been willing to take on what was seen as an ambitious project.
“We called on people who were willing to take a risk and get this bank off the ground and along with me came our steering committee,” she said introducing members of the 14-strong group.
Ms Hall also thanked the community saying it was a testimony to the spirit of the district that a resource now existed which would continue to support the generations to come in their sporting, educational and general life endeavours.
“Without your positive and generous support we could not have achieved the fantastic result that stands before us today,” she said.
“You can be proud you are the generation that began this legacy.”
Robert Musgrove, Bendigo Bank general manager (community and partners), spoke of the shift in thinking which had seen communities all over Australia embracing the community bank model.
“I believe you are redefining what it means to be the shareholders in business… shareholders where the figure on the dividend cheque is not the only thing that matters,” he said.
Mr Musgrove praised the initiative which in August last year saw the Warburton bank and the planned Yarra Junction branch join together under a new umbrella company called Upper Yarra Community Enterprise Limited (UYCEL).
“Back 10 years ago, or eight in the case of Warburton, if you had said communities would be rallying together to celebrate the launch of a local public company aggregating resources for the benefit of those communities, people would have said you had rocks in your head,” he said.
“You have demonstrated that as a community (Upper Yarra) you can pull together to achieve the things you want,” he said adding that $30 million in profit had been distributed to community projects as part of the community branch network.
UYCEL chairman Rodney McKail said Jaqui Hall and her team had worked long hours and turned the many hurdles they’d faced along the way into opportunities to get the bank up and running.
He said the board’s target for the next three years was to double their business and said that would result in $200,000 to $300,000 delivered in community grants each year.
“With the enthusiasm I have seen during the campaign and seeing everyone here today, I know that is achievable,” Mr McKail said.