Lou Licastro
Lou has had a long and varied career owning several businesses. Starting at a young age owning a small florist business, then moving onto to a commercial cleaning company which during his time, he managed over 100 employees over several locations thru-out Melbourne and Sydney.
The start of Lou’s long career in the food industry came when Lou moved on to purchasing a small pasta manufacturing business supplying food service distributors, hospitals, cafes, and caterers. Building a successful operation that was to merge after 10 years with a large Ice Cream manufacturer.
Continuing in the food industry Lou bought and successfully operated a high-volume café and restaurant. After taking a break, Lou joined a Registered Training Operation (RTO) to pass on his knowledge to upskill others working in the food industry. This saw him program manage a wide range of Certificate based training programs across multiple food industry sectors in Victoria, NSW and Tasmania.
In later years becoming a Director of the RTO, and was the driving force in establishing School Based Traineeship programs (SBATs) that would allow students in Year 11 and year 12 living with disabilities to engage in most cases, their first paid job, giving them the ability to participate in a workplace and being formally trained in either Food Processing, Warehouse Operations or Horticulture. During his time at the RTO Lou was instrumental in engaging with a wide range of likeminded employers across Melbourne who were keen to participate in these SBAT programs enabling students living with a disability to learn valuable employment skills and open future employment pathways.
Lou has a firm commitment towards supporting and assisting young people living with disability to build their employability skills, improving their capacity towards achieving open employment and realising their personal goals and aspirations.