Three hundred small businesses on the North Coast will have the opportunity to benefit from an innovative program, 21st Century Strategy, which focuses on the vital strategic issues of running a business.
The workshops have been developed and will be facilitated by Dr Steven French from the Business Strategy Corporation.
Dr Steven French, Mr Luke Hartsuyker (Federal Member - Cowper) and Mr Gerry Regan (Chairman - BCU)
The program will be offered to local small business operators following the formation of unique partnership on the North Coast. The Australian Government is providing funding support for a four-way partnership between locally-based Business Strategy Corporation, community credit union, BCU and CEDAR.
Small business people will learn practical management skills and have access to one-on-one mentoring in the development of strategic processes for their businesses.
The program will see a series of weekend workshops held in five locations over the next six months. Those locations are Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Bellingen, Nambucca Heads and Macksville. A further ten workshops will be held before July next year between the Clarence Valley and Kempsey.
Federal Member for Cowper, Luke Hartsuyker, announced the Australian Government will invest $66,000 towards the program.
“Regional communities are built on small businesses and the North Coast of NSW has a greater proportion of small businesses than the rest of the State in general,” Mr Hartsuyker said.
“In the modern era small business needs to be focused on securing a competitive edge. This funding will assist local businesses to review their strategic approach to business and seek to grow and create more jobs.”
Chairman of BCU, Gerry Regan, said the CEDAR-run workshops would undoubtedly prove very popular.
“BCU enjoys a close relationship with many small businesses on the North Coast. We understand how important small business is to economic sustainability of regional areas. However, we offer much more than just finance. As a community credit union, we’re here for the long haul – helping local business and ensuring the health of local communities. Hence our sponsorship
of this initiative.”
Dr French’s company, the Business Strategy Corporation, is based in Coffs Harbour and has experience holding similar workshops for more than 250 small businesses. The study of these businesses became the focus for Dr French’s PhD.
The program has received international recognition and Dr French’s research will be published early next year in the international Journal of Management Development in the United Kingdom.
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