Tenille Bentley, 2009 Anthill 30under30 winner

What is 30under30?

30under30 is an Anthill initiative that was launched in early 2008 to encourage and promote entrepreneurship among young Australians. Each year, we invite our readers to nominate young Australian entrepreneurs deserving of recognition for their outstanding entrepreneurial endeavours. Anthill’s editorial team then trawls through hundreds of applications and identifies and profiles the top 30 Australian entrepreneurs under the age of 30. The process culminates in an event held in Melbourne where the 30 winners network and celebrate. We’ve been releasing profiles of this year’s Anthill 30under30 winners via our Twitter account – youngest to oldest.

Name: Tenille Bentley

Age: 29 (b. 1980)
State: WA
Industry: Non-profit
Company: The Global Good Foundation (GGF)

Tenille Bentley is putting Australia on the map with her impressive philanthropic work. She is the founder of The Global Good Foundation (GGF), a charity to support women and children affected by domestic violence.

Bentley founded the GGF in 2007, a charity organisation setting up education centres around Australia for people affected by domestic violence. In just over one year she initially attracted more than 2,000 supporters and built an internationally recognised foundation consisted entirely of volunteers.

“My reason for doing what I do is purely because I grew up in this environment,” says Bentley. Her goal for GGF is to “educate youth extensively so they will know where to go in this situation”.

As the chairman of GGF, Bentley is involved with governing and guiding the overall business direction of its four divisions and fifty members. She has also run a gala ball for 300 corporations and sourced over $80,000 of sponsorships in under a year.

Bentley has built and run a total of three businesses within the first year of her entrepreneurial life. “My concept when stepping into the world of entrepreneurship was always to have a charity associated,” she says. “Then I had two other businesses which I essentially placed to compete against each – whichever one ran first was the one I would run with.” Her first business turned over $400,000 within the first six months of operation.

In addition to an entrepreneurial career Bentley works full time as Project Development Manager at Liberty Resources. She also mentors university PR students about effective networking even though she never went to university herself.

Bentley is known by the Honourable Perth Lord Mayor as “Tenacious Tenille”, and was shortlisted in the top six in Western Australia for Telstra Business Woman of the Year.

Driven by her vision, nothing stops Bentley until she gets there. And even when she does get there, she’s already thinking about the next opportunity.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACCORDING TO TENILLE

How do you handle people who say NO to your idea?

I had someone at my first presentation tell me it was “going to fail”.

I saw this as an opportunity rather than taking offence. I politely asked why they thought that and took away some key items that I have since applied to my business model.

My motto is find the person that is going to say NO and collect all the reasons why and ensure this is covered in the business model. That way you have essentially turned a potential problem into a great learning curve.
I apply this thought pattern with every area of my work.

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