Celebrating 30 years in Dubbo

Rabobank's Dubbo team has been proudly supporting local farm businesses for 30 years.

On the eve of Rabobank’s Dubbo branch 30 year anniversary, Rural Manager Nicole Bladwell reflects on the unique privilege of supporting local farming families across multiple generations.  

Having joined the team at its inception 30 years ago, Nicole’s career longevity has afforded her the rare opportunity of sharing in many of her clients personal and business milestones.

“Thirty years has gone in a blink,” Nicole smiles. “It’s quite amazing, you see these little children growing up and then all of a sudden they’ve finished school and someone is home wanting equipment finance to get started, then other siblings gradually return home and all of a sudden you’re working with the whole family – there are plenty of lovely stories like this from over the years.”

“It’s pretty impressive – but it also makes you feel old!” Nicole chuckles.

Continuity underpins a strong Dubbo team

Area Manager, Kevin Murray, believes Nicole exemplifies the long-term continuity of staff reflected within the Dubbo branch, a point-of-difference that underpins these genuine multi-generational client relationships.

“We have numerous instances where we might deal with mum and dad, and now we’re dealing with a second, and even third generation,” he says.

“We have a depth of expertise demonstrated by tenures such as Nicole at 30 years, Charlie Perry at 24 years, Louise Rosewarne at over 23 years, Simon Hegarty, Adrian Pirie, and Jess Giddings at 15 years - we have a lot of long-term staff members, and always have, which is quite amazing.”

“It’s a great team environment, and we’re really invested in our clients, so people are engaged in their roles – they like what they do, and with the people they work with.”

Katie Nash, Rabobank Dubbo's Sally Roche, Sarah Wheeler and Rabobank Dubbo's Nicole Bladwell at an event celebrating the end of Sarah's Outback Long Ride in Nyngan. Sarah will be a guest speakers at Rabobank's 30 year celebrations later this month.

Nicole agrees, and credits colleagues and clients for her career longevity.

“I was sitting on a tractor at Jerilderie just back from travelling overseas and decided I needed a longer-term job,” she recounts of her Rabobank career start. “When I got the role I thought three years would do me, and now 30 years later I’m still here, and that’s all thanks to the people I work with, and our terrific clients.”   

Despite no formal banking background, Nicole had extensive ag experience, and from her initial role at the front desk, to today a rural manager, she’s grateful for a diverse and exciting Rabobank career.

From stints in Head Office working on internal projects, to a Rabobank partnership opportunity with Farm to Market Alliance helping develop agribusiness opportunities in Rwanda, Rabobank has afforded her a multitude of opportunities she never imagined.

Nicole has had the opportunity to help support agriculture in developing countries as part of her 30-year Rabobank career. 

And while the ag industry has evolved enormously over the past three decades, the local Rabobank branch has also progressed significantly.

Dubbo branch booming

Nicole reflects on their initial Dubbo team of five, which now boasts 22, servicing hundreds of clients.

“We cover a large region from Dubbo to Wilcannia, Lightning Ridge to Mudgee, through to Peak Hill and everything in between, with ours one of the largest stand-alone branches in Australia in terms of staff and client numbers.”

Remaining in its original premises, she laughs that early on Dubbo staff ‘could play cricket in the main office’, yet today the space has well and truly been filled, and a recent refurbishment has allowed for further growth within the branch.

“It was getting a bit tired, and now it’s amazing – we’ve had our first refurbishment in 30 years and we’re ready for the future – our building has always allowed for capacity to grow, and part of the recent renovation was to build more capacity to grow, which is exciting.”

Looking back, with an eye on the future

One of the obvious changes to the agri-banking sector, Kevin believes, is the debt profile of clients.

“Thirty years ago $500,000 was a large amount of debt, and certainly the amount of debt to sustain an agribusiness is a lot different today,” Kevin explains.

“Considering the risk that our clients are taking on to grow their businesses, mutual trust and a genuine client relationship is crucial to support confident growth, and the continuity of staff in our Dubbo branch helps support our local farmers through the seasonal cycles that inevitably come.”

Rabobank Dubbo's Jake McKay and Sally Roche, with Warren's Whittaker Family.

The role of the modern rural manager also looks vastly different than it did 30 years ago, and Nicole laughs that she’s grateful to the technology and processes that now help support her in her role.  

“Back in the day the rural manager did everything from scratch, there were no settlement teams or analysts, property inspection photos were done using an old film camera, and all correspondence was over fax.”

One of the proudest achievements of the Dubbo branch during the past 30 years has been the development of the Financial Skills Workshop – a gap identified by local staff, with a locally developed program now a signature national program run through the Rabo Client Council.

“Many years ago our team recognised that young people in the region needed more support understanding their financials, and developed a local solution that is now offered nationally, and this knowledge gap wouldn’t have been picked up if we didn’t have long-term staff engaged with intergenerational farming families, and a genuine commitment to community,” Kevin says.

This month the branch will host a 30 year celebration, recognising the strength of the local team and region during a sit down dinner, and Kevin believes it’s an opportunity for people to get off-farm as well as a chance for the Dubbo team to say thank-you to clients.

“We’re looking forward to catching up with clients from across the region, and are proud to be supporting so many farm businesses, season after season, generation after generation,” Kevin says.

Rabobank’s Senior Protein Analyst,  Angus Gidley Baird at the Rabobank National Merino Sheep Show and Ram Sale, held annually in Dubbo.