Welcome to Wilco Electrical

In December 2016, Director Frank Mitchell, made a pledge to create 20 electrical apprenticeships by the end of 2020 for Aboriginal & Torres Straight Islander men and women.

"The opportunity presented itself because someone recognised the potential in me and was willing to give me a chance.  I didn’t understand the word ‘reciprocity’ until later, but I understood that with opportunity comes responsibility.  I wanted to make that same difference to others who needed a hand up."

Frank Mitchell joined Tim Bidstrup to become first-time business owners in 2015. At the time, we had nine employees and they were excited by the prospect of not only being managers, but leaders as well. Frank recognised that his acceleration from apprentice, to electrician, to project manager, to Director, to co-owner, had all started with something that was beyond his control.

Here we are, four years later. Although we created 12 x electrical apprenticeships, we created 22 positions in total due to the evolution of Wilco.

These included 4 traineeships in Construction, 3 in Administration, and 3 Trade Assistant positions. Out of all 22 positions only the Trade Assistant positions were casual.

We have not rested following our success of the 20 by 2020 initiative. Our commitment to creating Aboriginal apprenticeships continues with our Strive to 25 initiative, where we have committed to creating a further 25 positions for Aboriginal people by the end of 2025.

We thank our extended work team who have been absolutely magnificent in being supervisors, trainers and mentors to all the Aboriginal men and women on this journey.

Importantly, we would not have been able to achieve this journey without the support of our clients! Giving us an opportunity and standing beside us as we strived to grow a culture of corporate social responsibility.