24 October 2019

Shortly after landing in Australia, Israeli migrants Niv Atar and his wife, Timna, set up Dinidae- a one of a kind socially responsible enterprise and not-for-profit site.

The website is a marketplace which features different social enterprises and not-for-profits that sell items to support causes from combating human trafficking, to supporting marginalised women communities and much more.

In terms of career, Mr Atar always had the desire to work in an environment which is of benefit to society. With access to a range of education options in Australia, the St Kilda resident chose to study online to get the skills he needed to build his business. TAFE NSW delivers the Australian Government funded Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) Distance Learning nationally.

“I knew I needed to step up my English literacy levels to communicate effectively and after some research to find a well-known and trusted education provider, I decided to study a Certificate III in Spoken and Written English online with TAFE Digital,” he said.

While studying, Mr Atar was able to quickly engage with organisations like Empower International, who were keen to become an integral part of the social enterprise.

Geoff Wigney, manager of Empower international – a charity which focuses on combating sexual slavery and abuse, said, “We sell fair trade products on Dinidae and have been most impressed with the friendly and helpful assistance when learning the process of uploading our products for sale.

“Niv answered all our questions and even provided ‘hands-on’ assistance to get us going in an online social enterprise environment, which was new to us.”

Mr Atar works at a local bakery to support his family in addition to his studies and working on Dinidae initiatives. “I wake up at 5am to work at the bakery until the afternoon, then start on my study tasks and social enterprise initiatives until very late,” he said. “I am very grateful for this very busy and rewarding lifestyle.”

“The TAFE Digital teachers were amazing and when we had our one-on-one sessions, they always went the extra mile in answering my many questions, while delighting in progress made on our social enterprise site.”

So far Dinidae has conducted a successful pilot and managed to triple the online revenue of one of the five charities it supports, in addition to bringing in new clients who had not heard about the social enterprise store before.

“I am now also able to more easily communicate and engage with our family’s warmly welcoming St Kilda community, which is a massive bonus,” said Mr Atar.

To find out more about TAFE NSW AMEP Distance Learning, please visit https://www.tafensw.edu.au/amep or call 1300 362 418.

Media contact: Bonny Gunn, TAFE Digital Media and Communications Business Partner. M: 0419 173 048