This month we caught up with Daniel Adams, Manager, Business and Innovation at City of Prospect to find out about his career, why it's important to continually innovate and some of his career highlights. 

What is your role and what does it entail?
Manager, Business Innovation. I head up the Economic Development and Communications team. We want to drive new investment, visitation, development and jobs across Prospect, and share the great news coming out of our community.

What is your career background?
I studied foreign trade and economics at uni, but like a lot of people my age I had to move to the east coast to get into my chosen industry. Before coming to Prospect I worked for Apple before pivoting into local government, working in Economic development for Surf Coast Shire on the Great Ocean Road.

What do you enjoy most about working in local government?I love being able to see new businesses develop and thrive. Where it’s a small homebased business someone is running on the side coming in to learn about social media marketing, or a major new development coming out of the ground. It’s great to help people seize new opportunities.

Why is it important to continually innovate or think outside the box?
The world is changing fast, so it’s vital for leaders in this industry to innovate and adapt otherwise we aren’t going to attract the talent we need or meet the expectations of our community. There are great business coming up with new ways of operating and helping their customers online and in person all the time. This sets new standards for all industries to keep up with, including ours.

What’s your biggest local government career achievement to date?
Before COVID-19 hit at Adelaide in 2020, watching industries overseas getting locked down, I came up with an idea to support our local hospitality sector in the event of a lockdown here. It was called ‘Prospect Delivers”. When the first lockdown was announced, we were quickly about to start issuing two $25 vouchers a week to the vulnerable and isolating members of our community. They were able to trade them in for a meal to be delivered to them by a local restaurant. We promised the businesses owners we would reimburse the business as soon as possible to help keep their business going, knowing cash flow is king. Over the course of two months we funded approximately 3,500 meals for our residents. I had businesses tell me we had ‘saved their business’ and we were inundated by thank you cards from our most vulnerable residents.

Finally, what do you like to do in your leisure time?
I have a two and half year old and a new house to renovate, leisure time is hard to come by.