This week, Dun & Bradstreet revealed the number of small businesses going bankrupt jumped almost 50 percent over the past year, MYOB announced it’s Getting Aussie Business Online initiative has helped 30,000 businesses build a website, and Kevin Rudd dramatically resigned a Foreign Minister, citing the impact the leadership saga is having on business confidence. Miss any of this? Check out our wrap-up of the most important small business headlines of the week…
Costco planning two new stores for 2013
US discount giant Costco will open two new stores in Australia in 2013, after committing $140 million in capital to continue its expansion into the country.
According to Fairfax Media, Costco has a second Sydney site in mind as well as one in Brisbane – which would be the retailers’ first store in Queensland.
“We would like to do two [stores] in calendar 2013, ideally; we could do three but are likely to do two for sure,” managing director Patrick Noone said.
Join with likeminded female entrepreneurs to celebrate International Women’s Day
Registrations have opened for the WE WIN awareness event on International Women’s Day, designed to celebrate female success and enable change for women as entrepreneurs.
Presented by Women as Entrepreneurs, the event will see founder Orsi Parkanyi, Ninefold’s Hannah Schwartz and Digital Armour’s Maria Padisetti speaking about the empowerment of women entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Rise in business mobile use cause of phone-loss phobia
Two-thirds of the population now suffer from ‘nomophobia’, the fear of being without or losing their phone, and it’s because business commitments mean we’ve never been more attached to our mobile phones, and they’ve never held quite so much sensitive information.
According to a SecurEnvoy survey of 1,000 employed people, 66 percent of the population now experience nomophobia (short for no-mobile-phone-phobia), with almost half of us carrying two or more mobiles to stay connected.
Sharp rise in small business insolvencies as cashflow woes take a toll
The number of small businesses going bankrupt jumped almost 50 percent over the last 12 months, and poor cashflow management is being blamed for the alarming figures.
According to Dun & Bradstreet’s Business Failures and Start-ups Analysis report for December, the number of bankruptcies jumped 48 percent over the last 12 months and the number of small business start-ups fell by 95 percent.
MYOB and Google initiative gets 30,000 SMBs online
Over 30,000 local small to medium businesses are now online, thanks to Google and MYOB‘s Getting Aussie Business Online initative, which kicked off just 12 months ago.
The national Getting Aussie Business Online program has given tens of thousands of businesses access to the MYOB Atlas website builder and other tools needed to create a website in 15 minutes, at no cost for its first year.
So far, start-ups from the eastern states and well-established SMBs have been the biggest uptake groups, with the business services, construction and trades and retail industries the most represented.
Aussies welcome Motorola XOOM 2 launch
The successor to Motorola’s first tablet offering has launched locally, with the XOOM 2 weighing in 100 grams less and featuring improved app integration for business owners.
The Motorola Xoom 2 runs on the Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS and a 1.2 GHz processor, is 100 grams lighter than its predecessor and features new splash-guard coating for protection on-the-go.
Nominate now for the 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards
Do you know a deserving entrepreneur? Nominations are now open for the 2012 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
Thought by many to be one of the world’s most prestigious business awards, and this year, entrepreneurs from over 140 cities in 50 countries will participate in the awards.
Nominations can be made until 23 March, by visiting the award program website. Nominees will be assessed by an independent panel of expert judges according to six key criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, personal integrity and influence, financial performance, strategic direction, and national and global impact.
Spreets CEO reflects on two years in group buying
Two years on from launch and a year since its acquisition by Yahoo!7, Spreets CEO Dean McEvoy reflects about what he’s learnt and achieved, where he sees the business heading and how he plans to get it there amidst intense competition in the group buying industry.
Rudd resigns as Labor leadership “soap opera” impacts business confidence
Following weeks of speculation about his aspirations to again lead the Labor party, Kevin Rudd has dramatically resigned as Foreign Minister, saying leadership rumblings have become a “soap opera” that’s impacting business confidence.
Last night, Rudd released a statement saying he felt he no longer had Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s support and as such, couldn’t continue to serve as Foreign Minister.
“Frankly I have been shocked and disappointed by the tone and content of the intensely personal attacks lodged against me. Whatever our differences in politics I do not believe that these sorts of vicious personal attacks have a place in political life,” he said.
Aussie workers looking overseas for new opportunities
Almost half of Australian workers would consider relocating overseas to pursue a larger and more attractive salary, making it vital for local employers to capture jobseekers attention before valuable talent heads offshore.
Randstad, a specialist recruitment and HR services company, attributes the employment trend to the personal and professional reflection that occurs at the start of the new year. According to CEO Fred van der Tang, the January to March period is seen by employees as “the ideal time to explore potential career opportunities”.
