Young woman rubbishes Australian stereotype: ‘I’m so grateful my parents stepped in’

An entrepreneur has rejected the outdated idea that Australia is the land of fair go, saying she would never have been able to start her business without her parents’ financial help.

When Ashlee McGonigal, 18, from the Central Coast of NSW, had an idea for her business when she was just 15 at the time of the Covid-19 lockdown, she turned to her parents.

“I thought why not give this a try, I have the time,” she said.

‘But of course I didn’t have any financial advice or anything. I had no training on where to find the information for it, where to start or how to raise money.

“That’s why I’m so grateful that my parents intervened.”

The founder and designer of Sandy Rose Designs said her business “probably” wouldn’t exist without her parents’ financial help.

“They started me with $5,000 and then I started building my website and started organizing all my products and samples,” she said.

“It eventually turned into a $15,000 loan from my parents just because I kept adding products and kept selling products — I just needed some money to help me get ahead a little bit more.”

The university student (pictured) said she borrowed $15,000 from mom and dad’s bank to start and grow her business. She admits that she “probably” wouldn’t have a business if they didn’t lend her the money

In just three years, the 18-year-old went from buying the few materials she could with her parents’ initial $5,000 to selling more than $100,000 in inventory and shipping worldwide.

Ms McGonigal said not everyone can get the help she received.

“I’m not sure how else other people get money,” she said.

“We need to encourage more education about financial aid so that people aren’t afraid to step forward and start the business they’re thinking about,” she said.

A new report from the Australian tech unicorn Airwallex found that one in three startup founders nationwide are funded by their parents.

Airwallex ANZ vice-president of growth Matt Sek told Daily Mail Australia the proverbial ‘bank of mum and dad’ is not new, but it is being relied upon more than ever.

“Given the macroeconomic environment, it is not surprising that this would be an increasing trend of founders looking outside of traditional funding and financing,” he said.

“What was surprising was the size of one in three founders – something that, from my perspective, is unprecedented.”

Mr Sek said Australians don’t “necessarily” need rich parents to be successful in business, but “it does help”.

“But the biggest thing we found was that the founders actually didn’t know where to get the resources from – who to talk to and really be part of a community,” he said.

Ms McGonigal believes the economic climate is even tougher now than when she first started her business. The teen knows that people will find it difficult to get their idea off the ground if they don’t have parents to help (photo of one of Sandy Rose Designs’ products)

And not being aware of where funding is available can create a ‘brain drain’ from Australia.

“It’s already happening in the sense that many promising start-ups in Australia, especially in fintech and climate tech, are already looking to tap international investors,” he said.

Mr Sek believes the bank’s heavy dependence on mom and pop is caused by entrepreneurs feeling ‘lost’ when trying to turn a business idea into reality.

“It’s not that the investment isn’t available, it’s about creating a connection point,” he said.

“It seems relatively trivial, but it’s not something we’ve solved particularly well compared to other markets such as the US.

“While the bank of mom and pop can be useful to finance a small idea to get it off the ground, I don’t think companies can sustain and scale if they just rely on a single source of funding,” he said .

In May, AirWallex created a free community for startups where members have access to financial education and grant advice.

About 1,200 budding Australian business people have already signed up.