Media
National Crystal Vision Awards
In October 2007, FIDUN’s Founder, Fiona Dunster won both the Victorian & Tasmanian and the National Crystal Vision Awards (for advancing the interests of Women). Her passion and commitment for supporting and promoting women professionally runs deep. Particularly, Fiona believes women bring specific qualities and skills in communication that is adding value to all aspects of business. Fiona is proud of the approach she takes to working with her clients and colleagues and actively seeks to encourage those that work with her to embrace this open and collaborative style.
Recognition
The Beginning
The story of FIDUN’s beginnings is considered a little out of the norm and FIDUN’s Founder has been the subject of a number of profiles utilized by institutions to promote advanced education. Exerts from these are provided below:
“Australian construction consultant Fiona Dunster, who launched her own business two years ago, almost left her business plan collecting dust in a drawer until a series events prompted to throw caution to the wind and take a change.
She wrote her plan just after completing her MBA but, she says herself, through “lack of a ‘real’ need or impetus” she put her vision aside to continue in her role as executive manager for development at Cbus Property, a Superannuation Fund. She had joined the company during the first year of her three-part time MBA, and had found the two complimentary.
In 2007, when she had been with the company for six years, her chief executive sadly passed away, which Dunster says had a profound effect on her, and, several months later, when she was awarded the State and, ultimately, the National Crystal Vision Award (as selected by the National Association of Women in Construction) for advancing the interests of women, she found her impetus and FIDUN Pty Ltd was born.
While she says many successful and lucrative businesses are launched by innovative people with no formal training, she would advise anyone considering the move to embark on an MBA. “The networking benefits alone are worth the effort. The most beneficial thing for me was the learning I gained through my interaction with my fellow MBA peers – this opened my eyes and mind to ideas and experiences I never would have been exposed to otherwise.”
Top MBA Guide, September 2009
Entrepreneurial women
Successful businesswomen challenge the MBA stereotype
Fiona Dunster: A downturn and two new initiatives
"Many aspects of my MBA particularly business strategy, negotiations, diversity and marketing equipped me with vital skills to prepare launch and manage FIDUN."
Fiona Dunster
Director
FIDUN Pty Ltd
“Just over two years ago Fiona Dunster left a secure career path as a senior executive in the building and construction industry, had a baby and started her own property consulting business.
And that's just for starters. In an industry still overwhelmingly dominated by men, Fiona's company, FIDUN Pty Ltd has demonstrated solid growth with clients in both the corporate and government sectors.
After graduating with her MBA from Melbourne Business School in 2005, Fiona continued working as Executive Manager of development at Cbus Property. At the time she reported directly to the CEO, also her mentor.
The catalyst to leave and start up her own company-based on a business plan she'd written two years earlier-came when he died suddenly in the office. She left seven months later and was three months pregnant at the time.
FIDUN is a professional consulting business with services falling into four categories. The first is strategic property services, which involves negotiating commercial deals in the commercial and retail sectors of the property market and assisting clients with ‘challenged' projects-one's that for whatever reason require re-evaluation and new direction or leadership. .
The second is in development management-providing expertise to organisations and corporates who are investing in property development and helping them to determine what they should be developing and then managing the process for them -generally dealing in the $100 million plus project values
The third service is in the area of project management which involves taking a project through design and construction to completion.
The forth is offering Business Solutions, assisting client’s with Commercial contract negotiations, provision of strategic and practical advice around improvements to efficiency, control, risk allocation and quality of services delivered to the market, Business Development, Business Planning and Market re-positioning
In 2007 Fiona won both the state and national level, Crystal Vision Awards for Advancing the Interest of Women in the Property and Construction industry.
Fiona entered the workforce in 1993 with a double degree in B Planning & Design and B Building at the University of Melbourne. These qualifications were later strengthened by her MBA and an Advanced Negotiations course at Melbourne Business School.
Fiona says, "Many aspects of my MBA particularly business strategy, negotiations, diversity and marketing equipped me with the vital skills to prepare, launch and manage FIDUN."
Melbourne Business School,
Alumni Profiles, 2009
