#MadeInWollongong
Business Leader Series
Robert Servine, CEO at Green Connect Farm Ltd.
Scaleups
"Very few organisations do good for both people and the planet - that’s where we’re different. I think this kind of set up is the way of the future."
Robert Servine, CEO at Green Connect Farm Ltd.
IW: How did Green Connect form?
Robert: Green Connect started back in 2011 as a SCARF project. They had a grant to employ refugees and reduce waste at events including the Wollongong Folk Festival. They brought someone in to wrap the grant up, but she was very social enterprise-minded and turned it into something ongoing. That was the birth of Green Connect.
IW: How has Green Connect evolved?
Robert: Recently, we separated from our parent company, Community Resources. So Green Connect Farm Limited is now a standalone organisation and we’ve got a fair food farm just behind Warrawong high school. Our primary purpose is education and employment for refugees and young people and we do that at the farm, which is a safe, warm, and welcoming space. We provide a mixture of work experience and education to help overcome barriers to employment.
To subsidise that, we sell about 160 organically grown and harvested vegetable boxes a week to the Wollongong community that we pack and deliver on Wednesdays. We also run lots of farm-based experiences—farm kindy, school tours, corporate volunteering, picnic days, and public events and the money goes back into our education and employment program.
IW: Who do you help in your programs?
Robert: Since 2011, we’ve helped more than 500 people overcome barriers to employment. We work particularly well with the Karenni community, who are stateless people from Burma. They grew up in refugee camps in Thailand, were never provided any education, and often can’t read or write in their own language so they have more than the average barriers to employment. We've been lucky enough to gain their trust, and help them overcome those barriers in finding jobs, homes, and better lives because of their time with us.
IW: How do you help them overcome barriers to employment?
Robert: We do a lot of education on basic but important things—like showing up on time, filling out time slips, understanding taxes, tax file numbers, and other systems they need to navigate. We also teach soft skills like working with others and building confidence.
We work with Kiama Community College to deliver some of the curriculum so that participants have something tangible to take away—a resume, a reference, and a certificate of attainment.
IW: What makes this work important?
Robert: Very few organisations do good work for both people and planet. That’s where we’re different. We provide education and employment opportunities to people who might not otherwise have them, while doing work that is good for the planet. We grow food using organic principles—developing our soil, minimising waste, and avoiding plastic in our veg boxes.
IW: Have you had much support from the Wollongong business community?
Robert: The Wollongong business community has been amazing. For example, South Coast Equipment (SCE) buys 10 veg boxes from us each week and donates them to the Homeless Hub. SoilCo has hired six of our former team members and was open to multicultural training to help them feel welcome.
We’ve had companies like Canva, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, Endeavour Energy and others come out for volunteering days - there’s always a lot to do on the farm! It’s a great way for teams to spend time together outside the office, and some of the employees actually live down here so they get to help out in their backyard!
IW: Is it true that Toyota revamped your process?
Robert: Yes, the Toyota Supplier Support Centre (TSSC) team came in and helped us review our veg box packing process. They came from Melbourne for three or four days every month for five months and taught us the Toyota Production System (TPS).
Originally, we had vegetables lined up on the wall, people would walk back and forth grabbing items, opening and closing the boxes all the time. It was inefficient. Now, the box starts at the beginning with a packing list. It moves through stations from heaviest to lightest items, then gets closed and put in the cool room.
We went from packing a box in 72 seconds to around 50 seconds. That’s a huge time saving over 150 boxes. It’s less manual handling, less risk of injury, and much less stressful. Sometimes we finish early!
IW: How are you building a sustainable business model?
Robert: We earn about 70–80% of our income through trading—veg boxes, farm experiences, things like that. The rest comes from grants. That balance is important—it means we’re not fully reliant on donations or charity, and we can keep going even when things get tough. I think this set up is the way of the future.
IW: What are you most proud of?
RS: I’m most proud of the outcomes we get for the people in our programs. One young person came to us after COVID. He was socially isolated and had lost confidence or motivation for his future. But then he came to us.
He started quiet and conservative, but over time he’s grown so much. He’s now a key pillar of our packing team, does quality control, and helps with deliveries. He’s got a social life again and feels hopeful. That’s what I’m most proud of.
IW: Is Green Connect well known in the community?
Robert: We’re surprisingly unknown in some circles. Like, Jack Johnson knew we were here, and we had a stall at his concert in Sydney. Mizuno, the restaurant, has been here too. But the person up the road might not even know we exist so there’s still work to do in raising awareness.
IW: How can people get involved?
Robert: Just go to our website: green-connect.com.au. Click the “Shop” button, choose your box size, and decide whether you want a standard box or a “pick your own produce” box.
We deliver on Wednesdays. You can pick up from one of our eight local hubs in Wollongong or get home delivery for an extra charge.
IW: What advice would you give others starting a social enterprise?
Robert: Invest time early in putting in the right systems. If you put in something “good enough for now,” you’ll pay for it later. Think long-term. If you’re successful and double in size in 10 years, will your current system still work? Probably not.
So think big and develop systems for what you want to become—not just what you are now. I learned that the hard way!
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Robert Servine, CEO at Green Connect Farm Ltd.
IW: How did Green Connect form?
Robert: Green Connect started back in 2011 as a SCARF project. They had a grant to employ refugees and reduce waste at events including the Wollongong Folk Festival. They brought someone in to wrap the grant up, but she was very social enterprise-minded and turned it into something ongoing. That was the birth of Green Connect.
IW: How has Green Connect evolved?
Robert: Recently, we separated from our parent company, Community Resources. So Green Connect Farm Limited is now a standalone organisation and we’ve got a fair food farm just behind Warrawong high school. Our primary purpose is education and employment for refugees and young people and we do that at the farm, which is a safe, warm, and welcoming space. We provide a mixture of work experience and education to help overcome barriers to employment.
To subsidise that, we sell about 160 organically grown and harvested vegetable boxes a week to the Wollongong community that we pack and deliver on Wednesdays. We also run lots of farm-based experiences—farm kindy, school tours, corporate volunteering, picnic days, and public events and the money goes back into our education and employment program.
IW: Who do you help in your programs?
Robert: Since 2011, we’ve helped more than 500 people overcome barriers to employment. We work particularly well with the Karenni community, who are stateless people from Burma. They grew up in refugee camps in Thailand, were never provided any education, and often can’t read or write in their own language so they have more than the average barriers to employment. We've been lucky enough to gain their trust, and help them overcome those barriers in finding jobs, homes, and better lives because of their time with us.
IW: How do you help them overcome barriers to employment?
Robert: We do a lot of education on basic but important things—like showing up on time, filling out time slips, understanding taxes, tax file numbers, and other systems they need to navigate. We also teach soft skills like working with others and building confidence.
We work with Kiama Community College to deliver some of the curriculum so that participants have something tangible to take away—a resume, a reference, and a certificate of attainment.
IW: What makes this work important?
Robert: Very few organisations do good work for both people and planet. That’s where we’re different. We provide education and employment opportunities to people who might not otherwise have them, while doing work that is good for the planet. We grow food using organic principles—developing our soil, minimising waste, and avoiding plastic in our veg boxes.
IW: Have you had much support from the Wollongong business community?
Robert: The Wollongong business community has been amazing. For example, South Coast Equipment (SCE) buys 10 veg boxes from us each week and donates them to the Homeless Hub. SoilCo has hired six of our former team members and was open to multicultural training to help them feel welcome.
We’ve had companies like Canva, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, Endeavour Energy and others come out for volunteering days - there’s always a lot to do on the farm! It’s a great way for teams to spend time together outside the office, and some of the employees actually live down here so they get to help out in their backyard!
IW: Is it true that Toyota revamped your process?
Robert: Yes, the Toyota Supplier Support Centre (TSSC) team came in and helped us review our veg box packing process. They came from Melbourne for three or four days every month for five months and taught us the Toyota Production System (TPS).
Originally, we had vegetables lined up on the wall, people would walk back and forth grabbing items, opening and closing the boxes all the time. It was inefficient. Now, the box starts at the beginning with a packing list. It moves through stations from heaviest to lightest items, then gets closed and put in the cool room.
We went from packing a box in 72 seconds to around 50 seconds. That’s a huge time saving over 150 boxes. It’s less manual handling, less risk of injury, and much less stressful. Sometimes we finish early!
IW: How are you building a sustainable business model?
Robert: We earn about 70–80% of our income through trading—veg boxes, farm experiences, things like that. The rest comes from grants. That balance is important—it means we’re not fully reliant on donations or charity, and we can keep going even when things get tough. I think this set up is the way of the future.
IW: What are you most proud of?
RS: I’m most proud of the outcomes we get for the people in our programs. One young person came to us after COVID. He was socially isolated and had lost confidence or motivation for his future. But then he came to us.
He started quiet and conservative, but over time he’s grown so much. He’s now a key pillar of our packing team, does quality control, and helps with deliveries. He’s got a social life again and feels hopeful. That’s what I’m most proud of.
IW: Is Green Connect well known in the community?
Robert: We’re surprisingly unknown in some circles. Like, Jack Johnson knew we were here, and we had a stall at his concert in Sydney. Mizuno, the restaurant, has been here too. But the person up the road might not even know we exist so there’s still work to do in raising awareness.
IW: How can people get involved?
Robert: Just go to our website: green-connect.com.au. Click the “Shop” button, choose your box size, and decide whether you want a standard box or a “pick your own produce” box.
We deliver on Wednesdays. You can pick up from one of our eight local hubs in Wollongong or get home delivery for an extra charge.
IW: What advice would you give others starting a social enterprise?
Robert: Invest time early in putting in the right systems. If you put in something “good enough for now,” you’ll pay for it later. Think long-term. If you’re successful and double in size in 10 years, will your current system still work? Probably not.
So think big and develop systems for what you want to become—not just what you are now. I learned that the hard way!