Locked
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns are a rising trend in investment decision-making globally. Between 2016 and 2018, the value of sustainable and responsible investment assets in Europe, the US, Japan, Canada and Australia/New Zealand rose by 34 per cent to $30.7 trillion. This trend has been accelerating the fastest in the United States. More […]
A new report from KPMG finds investment in Australia’s fintech sector has accelerated in the first half of 2020, reaching US$376.5 million. This is more than a 150% increase on the corresponding period in 2019 (US$149.05 mil). However, a fall in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and private equity (PE) activity caused total investment in Australian fintech to fall from […]
Guest authored by Jason Toshack, General Manager ANZ at Oracle NetSuite So far, 2020 has been a challenging year for many Australian businesses. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that two-thirds of Aussie businesses have reported a decrease in revenue compared to last year. Business leaders have had to adapt fast, including re-thinking how they […]
From working in a fish and chip shop to owning a global award-winning skincare company, these two high school mates are on the fast track to commanding the beauty industry. Entrepreneurs Manny Barbas and James Hachem founded the skincare company Alya Skin in 2018. Since then they have turned over $20 million, selling to 500,000 […]
Applications for the Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) grant close tomorrow, 10 September 2020 5:00 pm AEST. Under the BRII, SMEs can apply to receive up to $100,000 to conduct a feasibility study on five key challenges that the government currently faces. If successful, applicants can then receive up to $1 million to develop […]
Increasing the sales of your business is more important now than ever. As Australia declines into the coronacession, businesses are being forced to adapt and pivot their sales strategies to ensure they maximise revenue. Take a look at this week’s Let’s Talk, where industry leaders share their top tips to increase sales. Kylie Gleeson-Long, Managing […]
The Victorian Government has contracted with tech giants Salesforce and IBM to digitise their contact tracing efforts after being slammed by the Federal Government. On Tuesday, the Prime Minister criticised Victoria’s roadmap out of lockdown as the “worst case scenario.” “The most important thing is ensuring that we build an integrated tracing capability right across […]
The Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ACCI) has put out a statement arguing that the Victorian Government’s roadmap for reopening Metropolitan Melbourne uses excessive thresholds for easing restrictions and should be overhauled using the National roadmap as the basis. “The Victorian Government should use the national roadmap as a starting point for getting to […]
Melbourne hospitality businesses are banding together to create a service which provides food to their workers who are doing it tough. The COVID-19 Employee Assistance Directive (COVID-19 EAD) was created in the wake of the collapse of the hospitality industry due to the coronavirus pandemic. One of the founding members of the initiative is Iain […]
New data has revealed voluntary administrations have significantly reduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting the uncertain mindset of small business owners. However, this could be prolonging an insolvency cliff. Prushka Fast Debt Recovery revealed through data sourced from court records that the number of liquidations and administrations started to drop in April this year. In […]
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell has called on the Victorian Government to cover the costs associated with small business closures, with tough trading restrictions to remain in place until the end of October, at the earliest. In announcing his Government’s much-anticipated steps to easing the nation’s strictest lockdown, Premier Daniel […]
Qwilr, online proposal and quote software startup, has announced the appointment of Ben Mackie as Head of Engineering. Ben joins from Atlassian where he spent six years leading engineering, platform and technology partnerships for Confluence, Atlassian’s workplace collaboration platform, and scaling product growth and experimentation across the company. Ben is looking forward to moving from […]
Many entrepreneurs secretly dream of one day listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), but the IPO process is not for the faint-hearted. Brett Kelly shares Kelly+Partners’ journey from privately-owned accounting practice to publicly listed company. Brett Kelly has never been afraid to aim high. When the 22-year-old suddenly found himself unemployed, he approached 34 […]
Less than 5 per cent of the Federal Government’s $40 billion Coronavirus SME guarantee scheme has been taken up by business owners. On 22 March, the Government announced the Coronavirus SME Guarantee Scheme (the Scheme). Under the Scheme, the Government guarantees 50 per cent of loans issued by eligible lenders to SMEs. Loans can be […]
The Senate Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology has recommended that the Australian Government provide greater clarity around the Research & Development Tax Incentive (RDTI) eligibility guidelines to ensure software innovation and creation is supported in Australia. On Wednesday, Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg tabled an interim report covering tax, regulation, access to capital, skills […]
The NSW Government has released its first AI strategy to create jobs and improve services to citizens. Premier Gladys Berejiklian emphasised the positive impact that this would have on job creation in IT, cyber security, data science and engineering. “This is great news for citizens, researchers and businesses. We know how important AI is and […]
The ABS confirmed Australia’s first recession since 1990 after recording two consecutive quarters of economic decline. After being hammered by the pandemic, bushfires and drought, Australia’s GDP plunged by 7 per cent in the April-June quarter. This follows a 0.3 per cent fall in the previous quarter. The 7 per cent fall is also the […]
Tenants who received rent relief under the COVID-19 mandatory code of conduct will continue to receive concessions for at least six months after October 2020. Last week, the NSW Supreme Court found that luxury footwear retailer, Sneakerboy, will have until 30 April 2021 before its landlord can increase rent or evict it. What relief do […]
Consumers using buy now, pay later services won’t have legal protection as companies such as Afterpay and Zip are being called to ‘self-regulate’. This comes from an interim report from the Senate Select Committee on Financial Technology and Regulatory Technology. Buy now, pay later (BNPL) fintech companies have become increasingly popular, with Australia’s leader Afterpay […]
Australian startup ACE EV has unveiled their plans for Australian-manufactured electric cars, made from imported flat-pack vehicle kits. From 2019-2020 there was a 40 per cent increase in global sales of electric vehicles. As the electric vehicle market continues to grow Greg McGarvie and his international team from ACE EV have created a flat-pack model […]
