Geelong, city in a hurry
AUGUST is shaping up to be a busy and exciting month in the Geelong business calendar with nearly 50 seminars, events and networking opportunities on offer during the Geelong Small Business Festival program.
August will also feature the local business community’s equivalent to the Oscars, with the Powercor Geelong Business Excellence Awards presentation dinner on August 20.
Not to be outdone by this abundance of activity for established businesses and startups, a fresh new culture is emerging to support innovation and entrepreneurialism in young people.
The UpStart Challenge is a big ideas competition for high school students, designed to encourage innovation and entrepreneurial thinking.
The program culminates in a pitching showdown and industry dinner on August 13 and has had widespread support from business and industry.
Geelong’s positive vibe and the energy and passion of its small business sector is palpable. Go to any Chamber After 5 networking event and it’s easy to see why Geelong’s small business sector is turning its collective back on negative thinking.
Small business gets it, and is getting on with building the economic capacity that will underpin Geelong’s economy into the future.
In a survey of business trends conducted by the Geelong Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with Deakin University Business and Law in late 2014, 73 per cent of respondents expressed confidence in the Geelong business environment, with a whopping 70 per cent expecting to increase their business activity in the next financial year.
The survey found that most businesses were experiencing increased profitability and expected to increase staff numbers in the next year.
These positive news stories fit the picture of Geelong as it transforms from its traditional industries to a faster and more dynamic landscape for a local economy that is creating new opportunities for jobs and the business sector.
The relocation of WorkSafe to Geelong will hammer a further peg in the ground for Geelong as a hub for social insurance, joining the Transport Accident Commission and National Disability Insurance Agency in a move that will change the economic landscape of Geelong forever.
To achieve such outcomes, though, is not the result of a happy set of circumstances or chance.
Geelong has worked hard and collaboratively to gain the attention of big business and governments.
No better example could be found than this region’s collaborative efforts to secure the Land 400 project to Geelong.
Organisations including the Geelong Chamber of Commerce, G21 Region Alliance, Committee for Geelong, Enterprise Geelong, Geelong Manufacturing Council, Geelong Defence Alliance, Deakin University, The Gordon, Avalon Airport, local government councillors, state and federal politicians of all political persuasions and the Victorian Government have all come together to ensure Geelong is well positioned to benefit from this $10 billion defence project.
Collaboration around advocacy for this key project has ensured that Geelong has delivered a unified voice on this unique opportunity.
Our ability to collaborate for the common good is a key factor in Geelong’s success to date and will continue to be a driving force of Geelong’s success into the future. Bernadette Uzelac is chief executive officer of the Geelong Chamber of Commerce.