small business clinics

I'm please to advise of a new mentoring program we are offering local small businesses in the Shire of Yarra Ranges.

Council’s Economic Development Unit in conjunction with the ‘Small Business Mentoring Service’ (SBMS) are offering small business owners one free 45 minute session with an experienced business mentor.

It's a great opportunity for small business owners to seek assistance from experienced mentors with an indepth knowledge of small business experience across a huge range of industries.

The Clinic will provide opportunities for business owners to discuss strategies and skills which will help to develop their business for the future.

The clinics will take place at Council’s Anderson Street office, and will be held on the 4th Friday of each month from 10:30am – 1:30pm. The first clinic will be on Friday February 25 and run through until November, 2011.

Bookings are essential and can be made by contacting Donna or Michelle at Business@yarraranges.vic.gov.au or phoning 9294 6735.

banksia business

It was terrific to learn that the Shire of Yarra Ranges Sustainable Business Program has been listed as a finalist in the Banksia Environmental Awards for the "Education – Raising the Bar" category.

The Banksia Environmental Awards are regarded as the most prestigious environmental awards in Australia. It's an honour to be selected as a finalist in the awards and is a credit to the Economic Development Department who work with local businesses and the Sustainable Business Program.

The Yarra Ranges Sustainable Business Program assists local businesses to embrace sustainability. The program empowers companies to use new tools and thinking to drive environmentally sustainable practices in their businesses that considers people and planet, and it's good for the bottom line too. As a direct result of the Sustainable Business Program, program participants have introduced energy saving initiatives that have saved up to 3,300 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions (not including the 2009 program).

Other notable sustainable practices that program participants have introduced into their businesses include adopting significant behaviour change strategies that have allowed a number of participants to reengage with staff and strongly boost staff morale, in turn reducing staff turnover and empowering key staff to take leadership in their organisations and implementing best practices for marketing sustainability and for formulating sustainability policies that pertain to tendering for public contracts which have significant export operations.

The Banksia Awards Ceremony will be held on Friday 15th October 2010 at the Sydney Town Hall.

Here I am pictured with Brent and CJ, proprietors of Limerence, at the opening of their new store in Belgrave. Small business plays an important role in the Shire of Yarra Ranges and the Sustainable Business Program is one of the ways council supports small business. 59.7% of businesses in Yarra Ranges consist of only the owner/operator, whilst 28.2% employ between 1 and 4 people, combined these businesses make up a large proportion of the business community in our local economy.

Limerence is well worth a visit, it is a unique retail space located at 1642 Burwood Hwy, Belgrave. Brent and CJ strive to provide an environment, which brings the local community together to celebrate all things creative. They are committed to keeping it local, and keeping it fair and aspire to provide the community with Australian, hand made fashion and jewellery, as well as be a commercial exhibition space for artisans of all kinds.

bunny in belgrave

It was delightful to see the Easter Bunny in Belgrave on Saturday morning. His basket of chocolate eggs proved to be very popular with youngsters and adults alike.

As part of the Easter celebrations Donna Burgess, President of the Belgrave Trader’s Association, walked the street bearing trays of hot cross buns for local shoppers.

Shoppers were very appreciative of the extra effort put in by the Traders and readily tucked into the buns and eggs on offer. Well done to the Traders, you help build the community spirit the hills is known for. The Easter Bunny was a talking point up and down the street with locals readily stopping to have a chat.

You never know what you might come across when you shop locally. I’ve always been a great supporter of our local businesses and now more than ever it is important that we support them by shopping locally.

community jobs forum

On Friday I attended a Jobs Forum hosted by Jason Wood, federal member for Latrobe. Jason invited Malcolm Turnbull (Leader of the Opposition) along to listen to the concerns of local business people.

The discussion was far ranging and covered a variety of topics of key concern to small business. Compliance and cost of the regulatory burden was high on the agenda, but support of the apprenticeship system, the impact of skills shortages and the role of traineeships and secondary education got a good mention too.

Of the shire's 13,515 businesses, 97% of them are small businesses (employing less than 20 people), I have always been a great supporter of local business. It's even more important than ever to support our local businesses in these tough economic times.

After the forum I took the opportunity to speak directly to Malcolm about some of the key issues affecting local economic development in Yarra Ranges. There are a number of areas of concern including skills shortages, particularly in the manufacturing, horticulture and hospitality industries.

Water for agriculture is also another key concern in Yarra Ranges, with reduced water flows impacting greatly on future development for our agricultural sector.

Other issues include lack of recognition as a rural area (denying access to many funding opportunities available in other rural areas), poor broadband connection, lack of public transport services, lack of natural gas supply and lack of industrially zoned land.

I had a copy of the Shire’s Submission to the Outer Suburban/Interface Service and Development Committee of Parliament Inquiry into Local Economic Development in Outer Suburban Areas which I handed him along with our recently published Live and Work in the best of all worlds, a great publication highlighting the benefits of making your home and work in Yarra Ranges. I hope Malcolm takes the time to read about our issues in the Shire of Yarra Ranges.

Just to give you a bit of a snapshot of our local economic output in Yarra Ranges:
Our Gross Industry Output from all 17 sectors was just over $9 billion in 2007, an increase of 21.7% or $1.6 billion since 2001. Seventy percent of Output was from just five sectors:
Manufacturing 33.7%
Construction 10.7%
Property and Business Services 10.1%
Wholesale Trade 8.4%
Retail Trade 8.1%

It was a great opportunity to highlight key concerns of our Shire to the federal Liberal Party, who are currently seeking information from across the country to inform policy development for small business.