Start-ups’ lonely struggle

HOME-BASED and micro businesses in Geelong need greater support amid a surge in entrepreneurialism, a labour market expert says.

The number of registered businesses in Greater Geelong soared by 2096 in the four years to June last year but two-thirds of them do not employ staff, reflecting the increasing use of contractors requiring ABNs.

But Geelong labour market analyst Dr Jude Walker said there had also been a surge in self-employment and entrepreneurialism.

Dr Walker said the decline of major industries, such as Ford and Alcoa, alongside a proliferation of new businesses left the composition of the regional market heavily dependent on micro and home-based businesses in addition to small to medium enterprises.

“We need to be looking at providing much more in the way of support if we want to encourage people to go down that road of being selfemployed with the hope of growing their business,” Dr Walker said.

A report into the transition of workers who lost jobs with the demise of Australian car manufacturing found that within a year 6 per cent of workers from the car makers, and 2 per cent of workers in supply chain companies, had started their own business after being made redundant.

Dr Walker said she was concerned people leaving large companies with formal organisational supports might not be adequately prepared for running a small business.

People might be skilled at a task on which they were basing a business, but that did not mean they had the right mindset, or a grip on skills such as marketing or financial reporting, required in business, she said.

“Now they are out in the wide world, with no idea how to run a business, and everything they have got potentially tied up in it, and no understanding of what to do,” Dr Walker said.

The not-for-profit Western Business Accelerator and Centre for Excellence in Melton, founded in 2015, stood as a “shining light” as a model for a business incubatoraccelerator and support hub.

“We need more of that sort of support in this region if we really do want to encourage the entrepreneurial mindset,” she said.

“We need better infrastructure to support these micro and home-based and very small businesses, particularly if the longer term aim is for these businesses to grow and employ staff.

“We need to start thinking in different ways about how we work and particularly about how small businesses operate.”

The Geelong council recently noted an increase of registered businesses in the city centre from 1527 in 2016 to 1910 in 2019.

Dr Walker said the construction, advanced manufacturing and creative industries were making greater use of contractors on limited life projects.

She said ideally there would be a central repository for information on project workers in the region.