Pacific Business Networks

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Pacific Business Networks

Empowering Pacific-led businesses & leaders
Events | Trade | Advocacy | Connections
Elevating Pacific voices in business & beyond
Australia | Pacific

01/09/2026

ANASINA GRAY-BARBERIO MP | Representation Matters. 🌺

Our sista, Anasina Gray-Barberio MP, made history as the first Pasifika woman elected to the Victorian Parliament.

That achievement means something.

It means seeing Pasifika representation in spaces where our voices have not always been present. It means creating visibility for our people. And it means showing the generations coming behind us that these spaces are possible.

Anasina is also someone who has been part of the PBN journey. She joined us as a panelist for our IWD: Power of Her event, sharing her experience and perspective with our network, and has continued to engage with the work we do.

So for us, recognising this moment is personal.

We’re proud to see our sista continue to step forward, lead and create visibility for our people.

Anasina is continuing her campaign ahead of the Victorian election, and her campaign has provided a donation page with contribution options from $5 to $100, or another amount of your choice.

For those who would like to learn more about the campaign or contribute, the campaign donation page is here:

👉 CAMPAIGN DONATION PAGE
https://contact-vic.greens.org.au/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=5055&price_4707=13270

We celebrate our people when they rise.
We stand with them when they lead.
And we make the pathway wider for those who come next.

Fa’afetai lava, Anasina. 🌺

31/08/2026

Where do you want your next opportunity to take you?

Beyond your current network?

Into new industries, new markets or new conversations?

Closer to decision-makers, government, regional organisations and people shaping what comes next across the Pacific?

Sometimes the next step isn't about doing more.

It's about being connected differently.

Opening our minds, expanding our networks and seeing what becomes possible beyond our usual circles.

At October's Exchange + Activation, PBN is bringing together people with experience across business, leadership, government, professional fields and the wider Pacific — including people who operate at national, regional and international levels.

For some, the value will be a new business connection.

For others, it may be a conversation that opens a different pathway.

And for those looking to grow their influence, capability or reach, it is an opportunity to be part of conversations that extend well beyond the immediate.

If you're ready to think bigger about where your experience, ambition and connections can take you — this is a room to step into.

📅 Thursday 29 October 2026
📍 Melbourne

From Connection to Opportunity.

30/08/2026

Your title may open a door.
What you bring through it creates the opportunity.

For professionals and leaders, connection is about more than meeting new people.

It is about bringing your experience, knowledge and perspective into rooms where it can create value — through an introduction, an insight, a pathway or an opportunity that may not otherwise have existed.

Because sometimes the most valuable person in the room isn’t looking for an opportunity for themselves.

They’re in a position to help create one for someone else.

And if you have access to a door, your value isn’t in guarding it. It’s in knowing when to open it for someone else.

🔵 Connection — Who could benefit from who you know?

🟠 Capability — What knowledge could you share?

🟢 Commerce — What opportunity could you help unlock?

From Connection to Opportunity.

Pacific Business Networks | Exchange + Activation
29 October 2026

— Pacific Business Networks

28/08/2026

FROM THE ROOM

Sometimes the best way to understand the value of a room is to hear from someone who was in it.

Lanee, Founder of , travelled from Sydney to join our first Exchange + Activation in July, and also generously contributed Naked Poly gifts for our speakers and dignitaries.

Her reflection captures something at the heart of E+A — meaningful connections, shared experiences and conversations that can continue beyond the evening.

“We came away feeling really inspired and excited about the connections made and what may come from them.”

Thank you, Lanee, for making the trip to Melbourne, for contributing so warmly to the evening, and for sharing your experience with us.

As we prepare for October, we continue to build a room around Pacific business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals at different stages, alongside people who bring relevant experience, knowledge and pathways.

🔵 Connection | 🟠 Capability | 🟢 Commerce

Exchange + Activation | Thursday 29 October 2026 | Melbourne

27/08/2026

**TAX 101 FOR SOLE TRADERS **

Working for yourself comes with freedom and flexibility — but it also means understanding your tax obligations.

As part of our partnership with Hnry, we’re sharing practical resources to help our Māori & Pacific sole traders, freelancers and contractors build their knowledge and feel more confident managing the business side of working for themselves.

Hnry’s **Tax 101 for Sole Traders** is a useful starting point, covering some of the basics you need to know when you’re self-employed.

📘 Read the guide:
https://hnry.com.au/resources/tax-101/tax-101-for-sole-traders/

This is what activating our partnerships is about — connecting our network not only to services but also to practical information, tools and pathways they can actually use.

**Not sure whether Hnry suits the way you work? Feel free to send PBN a message.**

🔵 Connection | 🟠 Capability | 🟢 Commerce

26/08/2026

The Right Connection Depends on Where You’re Going.

Not every connection needs to lead to the same place.

Sometimes the person you need is someone who has already walked the road you're beginning.

Sometimes it’s someone who understands the pathway.

Sometimes it’s someone who challenges your thinking, introduces another perspective or helps you see an opportunity differently.

And sometimes?

It’s the person you never expected to meet.

That’s part of what happened at our July Exchange + Activation — conversations unfolded across the room between people who may otherwise never have crossed paths.

We can't predict what every conversation will become.

But we can be intentional about who we bring into the room and creating the conditions for those conversations to happen.

That is the thinking behind Exchange + Activation.

🔵 Connection | 🟠 Capability | 🟢 Commerce

📅 Thursday 29 October 2026 | Melbourne

🎟️ Tickets are now open.

25/08/2026

**SOLE TRADERS, FREELANCERS & CONTRACTORS — THIS ONE'S FOR YOU.**

At our July Exchange + Activation, we introduced Hnry as PBN’s Sole Trader Partner — a partnership we were genuinely excited to establish with our Māori & Pacific sole traders, freelancers and contractors in mind.

When you’re working for yourself, you’re often managing the work, the clients, the business and the admin — all while you’re on the go.

That’s why Hnry made sense for PBN.

Hnry provides a practical, easy-to-use way for self-employed people to manage their tax obligations and financial admin, helping take some of that workload off their shoulders.

Through our PBN × Hnry partnership, members of our network can also access **$25 Hnry credit** using the promo code **PACIFICBN** when signing up.

🔗 Explore the dedicated PBN × Hnry pathway:
https://hnry.com.au/pacific-business-networks/

We’re excited about what this partnership can offer our Māori & Pacific sole traders, freelancers and contractors — not only through the Hnry service itself, but through the practical information and resources we’ll continue sharing along the way.

**Not sure whether Hnry suits the way you work? Feel free to send us a message.**

🔵 Connection | 🟠 Capability | 🟢 Commerce

24/08/2026

Growth Doesn’t Look the Same for Everyone

There is no single starting point — and no single definition of growth.

Some people are taking their very first steps with an idea.

Others are building a business, growing professionally, exploring their next move, strengthening what they’ve already created or looking for a pathway they haven’t yet found.

Different stages. Different goals. Different pathways.

That matters to us.

Exchange + Activation isn't about expecting everyone in the room to be at the same stage. It’s about creating a room where different experiences can meet — and where someone further along the road may have something valuable to share with someone just beginning theirs.

And sometimes, the person just beginning brings a perspective the rest of us need to hear too.

There is room for both.

🔵 Connection | 🟠 Capability | 🟢 Commerce

📅 Thursday 29 October 2026 | Melbourne

23/08/2026

From Connection to Opportunity — What does that mean?

From Connection to Opportunity isn’t just the theme of our next Exchange + Activation — it’s what we want people to experience in the room.

You might arrive looking for one thing and leave having discovered something completely different.

A conversation.
A new perspective.
Someone who understands where you’re trying to go.
Or an opportunity you hadn’t considered before.

That’s why we bring together Pacific business owners, entrepreneurs, professionals and leaders at different stages, across different industries and experiences.

The goal is simple:

🔵 Make a meaningful connection
🟠 Gain a valuable insight
🟢 Identify an opportunity worth pursuing

Because connection is valuable.

What you do with it next is where opportunity begins.

📅 Thursday 29 October 2026 | Melbourne

21/08/2026

**NOT EVERY BUSINESS IS AT THE SAME STAGE.**

One business may be taking its first steps.

Another may be strengthening its foundations.

Another may be preparing for growth, new markets or its next commercial opportunity.

The right connection can look very different depending on where you are — and where you want to go next.

Pacific Business Networks is here to help connect Pacific business owners, entrepreneurs, professionals and industry leaders with people, knowledge and pathways that may help them move forward.

Not every journey looks the same. It shouldn’t have to.

🔵 Connection | 🟠 Capability | 🟢 Commerce

Address

637-641 Chapel Street
South Yarra, VIC
3141

Website

http://www.directory.pacificbusinessnetworks.com/, https://www.trybooking.com/DMAKC

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