Sunshine Coast Council celebrates Small Business

As part of Queensland Small Business Week from May 16-20, Sunshine Coast Council has partnered with the Nambour Alliance and the Sunshine Coast Chambers of Commerce Alliance to host a special Business Networking event on Tuesday, May 17 at The Shed, Aussie World.

Mayor Mark Jamieson said all local businesses were invited to attend the free event that  would provide updates on the region’s broader economy, our game changer projects and the suite of support services council provides for local businesses.

“There are more than 30,000 small businesses registered on the Sunshine Coast and that means they are a major employment demographic for our region – supporting local business is an essential to building a sustainable economy,” Mayor Jamieson said.

“Local businesses can access a range of programs, initiatives and workshops through council that provide support in areas like business development, process improvements and business connections.

“Our Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS) 2013-2033 aims to triple our economy to $33 billion, achieve 100,000 jobs within our high-value industries and have 20% of local goods and services produced for export.

“To help drive this into action, council provides an export program and networking events for local businesses, along with international trade and export missions, sister city partnerships links to Trade and Investment Queensland, Austrade and local networks “

“Council’s procurement policy has recently been enhanced to further our ‘buy local’ preference for all of our key goods and services, including key strategies whereby in many instances only local businesses will be invited to quote.

“The Sunshine Coast also has a number of gamechanger projects underway, including SunCentral Maroochydore, a $5 billion Health Precinct at Kawana, expansion of the Sunshine Coast Airport and a new solar farm that has had its first sod turned and will be the biggest in Queensland.

“Combine all of this with our ranking as the second highest performing non-capital city economy in Queensland, our exceptional financial ranking by the Queensland Treasury and the highest business confidence levels of any region in Queensland and the future is certainly bright for the Sunshine Coast from a business and investment point of view.

“I encourage all local business owners to attend next week’s networking event and find out how they can tap into our great local resources and the support that’s available from council to help them maximise opportunities now and into the future.”

Next week’s event will also include exhibitors from state and federal government as well as key note speeches from Sunshine Coast Chambers of Commerce Alliance Chair Michael Shadforth.

Mr Shadforth said it was a significant opportunity for local business owners to find out new ways they can prosper.

“Businesses that are already aligned with these projects, plans and initiatives are seeing strong growth,” he said.

“This is an opportunity for more local businesses to learn how they can grow and prosper – it’s definitely an event not to be missed!”

Bookings are essential for the event. To register and for more information about Council’s Local Business support activities visit: http://www.invest.sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au/

Sunshine Coast small business fast facts:

• There are 16,985 micro businesses on the Sunshine Coast. These are businesses that do not employ staff.
• There are also 10,125 small businesses, with one to 19 employees.
• These micro and small businesses account for 98% of all businesses on the Sunshine Coast
• The greatest increase in micro business numbers over the past three years has been in the Financial and Insurances Services sector and Health Care and Social Services sector.
• For small businesses there has been growth in business numbers in the Health Care and Social Services sector ( 8.25% increase), the Accommodation and Food Services sector ( 7.4% increase) and the Education and Training sector ( 18.6% increase). Collectively, these three sectors account for 38% of all small businesses on the Sunshine Coast.