Workshop26: Meet the melting pot of women-led micro-businesses putting the tiny town of Kimba on the map

Halfway across Australia, perched on National Highway One and just 475kms from Adelaide lies a tiny agriculture-based town, of approximately 650 people, with a big heart.

On the main street of Kimba sits a disused tractor workshop that’s now jam-packed with repurposed shipping containers (and one retro caravan), its exterior painted a sophisticated chic jet-black.

This is Workshop26, the small town’s creative quarter and home to a melting pot of makers, micro-businesses, and all-around good people. 

Source: Supplied

The not-for-profit enterprise was created in 2019 by women founders Heather Baldock, Maree Barford, Pat Beinke, Carmen Rayner, and Barb Woolford, following the adversity of very dry times in the town that saw a number of local businesses in Kimba shut their doors. 

From a soap maker to handmade ceramics, coffee to gifts, and homewares, Workshop26 is now home to nine women-founded micro-businesses and owners. Baldock’s High Street Vintage trades alongside Beinke’s Mud Pot, Rayner’s The Small Town Soap Co and Woolford’s Karawatha Home. 

They are joined by Megan Dickenson’s small business Little Coffee Pot, Danna Kassebaum’s Zozo & Ace, Lisa Lock’s The Good Copy Company, Louise Nietschke’s Emmi Rose and Ellen Zibell’s Alive & Well.

Office space within Workshop26 is also leased to a local woman who works as an agricultural consultant and is hired out as a space for events and photo shoots.

In March, Workshop26 saw 1000 visitors come through its doors for the month, with 80% being travellers passing through the township.

The Good Copy Company founder Lisa Lock said this number swells when the business owners hold a Market Day or workshop weekend, and ebbs during winter when many travellers have already made their way north for winter.

Lock says the ‘little old tractor shop’, as she refers to it, is “smashing small town stereotypes and redefining rural and regional creativity”.

Workshop26 has become a must-see destination for “road trippers, big lappers and van lifers”, says Lock, who are drawn off the nearby highway and into the township of Kimba thanks to the quirky retail hub. Not only do these visitors get to experience what makes the Kimba community special, but their patronage makes an important contribution to the local economy too.

Source: Supplied

“It’s a game-changer and it’s smashing small-town stereotypes because people come here and just go, ‘wow, I did not expect to see this halfway across Australia’,” she tells SmartCompany. 

“More than that though, Workshop26 has created a platform for women-led micro-businesses to establish and grow, at the local level and beyond.

“Something that I personally love about the Workshop26 space is it really shows other women and other communities what’s possible and what they can do when they harness their energy and creativity.”

 “Just magical”

The Small Town Soap co-founder Carmen Rayner is a farmer and mother who began making soaps at her kitchen table and selling them at markets. She was one of the first business owners to lease space in Workshop26, manufacturing outside her home for the first time and creating a permanent retail space for her business. 

Carmen Rayner of The Small Town Soap Co. Source: Supplied

In the last 18 months, Rayner has more than doubled her physical footprint as Workshop26 itself expanded, employed her first staff member, and is looking to employ her second. Work is also underway on a new product range for wholesale customers. 

Last financial year, The Small Town Soap Co experienced an increase in its total revenue by 71%, while its wholesale channel increased by 187%. On average, Rayner’s business is now shipping more than 850 bars of soap to wholesale customers every month, compared to 290 per month in the previous financial year. 

Rayner says Workshop26 provided her with the focus and dedicated space she needed for her business.

“Workshop26 has been just magical. I’m surrounded by like-minded women who just want to thrive and do more for our community,” she tells SmartCompany. 

“One of my goals was to grow The Small Town Soap Co to a position where it could employ people, which it has done, and we’re actually looking at employing our second staff member. It’s been just such a great space.”