Small business program driving success across NSW
- Written by Geoff Provest
Mr Stoner and Mr Provest were joined by the NSW Nationals Parliamentary Team who were on a bus stopover of their own – visiting Tweed Heads before heading off on a week-long regional bus tour of Northern NSW.
Mr Stoner said the Small Biz Bus – delivered through the Office of the Small Business Commissioner’s Small Biz Connect program – had made 300 visits across NSW over the past year.
“Seventeen of these visits have been at locations in the Northern Rivers area, including Tweed Heads, which is enjoying its second visit today,” Mr Stoner said.
“I am delighted to be here taking part in this stopover and seeing first-hand all the Bus has to offer local small businesses.”
During the visit, Mr Stoner announced the key achievements of the Small Biz Connect program.
“Over the last financial year, NSW small businesses benefited from more than 40,000 hours of high quality face-to-face support and personalised business advice,” Mr Stoner said.
“Sixty per cent of these services were delivered in regional areas. The practical support delivered has ensured operators are not only able to set up and run a successful business, but that they also have the tools and resources to guide them.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the Australian economy, with more than 683,000 operating in NSW and comprising 96 per cent of all NSW businesses.”
Mr Provest congratulated local companies that had taken the opportunity to seek support from the NSW Government’s Small Biz Connect program.
“More than 6,700 small businesses operate in the Tweed Heads region and they are well serviced by the North Coast’s experienced mobile business advisors,” Mr Provest said.
“The local NORTEC Small Business Support Unit, based in Byron Bay, Lismore and Grafton, has delivered almost 2,500 hours of support and business advice to the Northern Rivers area in the past year.
“It has found the entrepreneurial spirit very strong in this region with more than half of all Small Biz Connect clients (55 per cent) intending to start a business.”
For more information about the Small Biz Connect program, including the Small Biz Bus, please visit www.smallbusiness.nsw.gov.au