Today is Youth Homelessness Matters Day. Homelessness is often seen as a challenge for governments and charities to solve, but the private sector can play a part too – beyond throwing money at the issue. Youth homelessness is growing at an epidemic rate, and SMEs should take notice. These young people are future job candidates […]
We know that small businesses employ around 40% of Australia’s workforce, but they also play more than their fair share of taking on interns for work experience. Most interns that I speak to are getting their work experience at a small business, usually a place with fewer than 10 employees. With an increasing number of […]
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Kate Carnell, has commenced an inquiry into international initiatives designed to address the funding gap for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). [Related: Small Business Ombudsman calls for Govt to consider UK approach to boosting SME finance, Major barriers to SME investment explored by new report from […]
What are the attributes of an SME that is growing, and how do they differ from a business with static or declining revenue? [Related: SMEs trading banks for fintechs, poll suggests] Twice a year, when more than 1200 owners or leaders of SME businesses are interviewed for our SME Growth Index, one of the first questions […]
Fintech and other non-bank lenders are set to overtake banks as the preferred source of growth funds for Australian SMEs, the latest Scottish Pacific SME Growth Index suggest. [Related: Let’s Talk… Fintech, FinTech Australia’s CEO steps down but will continue to help Aussie fintechs from Asia and Fintech Code of Conduct recommended by report into best-practice for SME […]
To unlock massive growth, business leaders must be comfortable with the idea of not only going global but also – when it makes sense for the company – moving beyond their initial idea and vacating the driver’s seat, according to Dr Jana Matthews, an international expert on entrepreneurial leadership and business growth. [Related: Why small businesses need […]
The NSW Government has rejected criticism levelled at its $190 million job creation fund by The Daily Telegraph, which today claimed the fund’s managing body, Jobs for NSW, had yielded “drastically low results”. [Related: “Previously, the government wouldn’t have engaged SMEs in this way”: Jobs for NSW CEO and “Huge coup for Sydney” – $35m startup hub to […]
A report outlining steps being taken by fintech lenders to increase transparency and disclosure has been released by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO), Kate Carnell, in partnership with FinTech Australia and theBankDoctor.org. The report, Fintech lending to small and medium sized enterprises: Improving transparency and disclosure, looks at the different approaches to […]
After spending decades working in the ‘big end of town’, Sydney barrister Leo Tyndall turned his efforts to the ‘smaller end’, eager to help promising SMEs deprived of finance by traditional lenders. In the four years since he founded MarketLend – an online lending platform inspired by international peer-to-peer (P2P) offerings – Tyndall (CEO) […]
There’s no argument about it. Cyber security is tough for small and medium sized businesses. Most SMBs don’t have a dedicated IT staff member, meaning it falls on the owner or manager to be on top of computer security matters. One of the key milestones in cyber security is the upcoming data breach laws in […]
