Home topics finance finance-cash-flow Cashflow Growing Retail Cashflow Got a creative business idea for inner-city Sydney? Stephanie Zillman July 18, 2013 Fact: Four or five years ago there was nowhere much to go in the Sydney CBD. Unlike our southern cousin , laneways and unusual spaces were unloved and underutilised. Thanks to revitalisation efforts in part by the City of Sydney, as well as fearless small business owners willing to take a chance, the city’s laneways are becoming vibrant locations outside the hours of 9-5pm. The Finegrain program is one matching grants program currently offered by the City of Sydney which has played a role in that revitalisation, and has already paid out some $275,000 in grants to more than 12 businesses since its inception. The city wants to encourage businesses to open in unique spaces – whether it be in a laneway, a space that hasn’t been used for a small business purpose before (for example a basement, a warehouse or an office), or an expansion of a pre-existing business into an underutilised space. “The grant will support new small businesses to locate, and existing small businesses to grow, in the laneways of central Sydney, as well as new, unique and innovative businesses to establish in or relocate to central Sydney. These businesses will contribute to achieving the broad aims of Sustainable Sydney 2030 to create a Green, Global and Connected city,” it is stated. Richard Roberts, Business Advisor at the City of Sydney told Dynamic Business that the