IB Woman
Issue No. 44 - December/January 2008
Calling Australia home
by Penelope Herbert
Personal experience of migrating to a new Zcountry has formed the basis for a new partnership that is blossoming with the challenges of helping other new migrants.
Maria Barredo and Desiree Holland are very different personalities with very similar experiences. They met while helping Sudanese refugees settle in South Australia.
Maria was working for the Catholic Archdiocese as the Director of Multicultural Services and Desiree was a Director of HomeStart Finance. But it was not until two
years later that a chance meeting crystallised a potential business venture.
“Maria is the go-getter without fear of failure,” laughs Desiree, “and I am the voice of reason. I could see us forming a business as we each possess a variety of skills and knowledge which, if combined, would be the basis for a great business.”
“I saw that we were two professional people who could talk objectively because we weren’t friends at that point,” says Maria.
“Nothing was off-limits so Desiree and I could talk very openly about what we each wanted in having a business. I think I scared her off a bit.”
The new Barredo Holland business was formed in January 2008 with offices opening in February. By March the business had moved to the Central Market because the founders felt the location would be better for them and their clients.
“We had agreed that our aims and objectives would include having fun,” explains Maria, “so the location was an important consideration. We also decided we would need to travel so in May we made our first trip to the Philippines to investigate migration prospects.”
As a former Filipina who moved to Iran before migrating to Australia, Maria was acutely aware of the
danger of ‘selling’ migration without the foundation of a job and support services. She was also sensitive to issues such as language and cultural barriers.
“When I moved to Iran, it was initially disturbing not to...
