The ACT government has planned to host an expo to promote small businesses in the capital within the year as part of a new strategy to boost the sector.
There will also be a range of resources developed to provide training and support to small businesses and research will be commissioned to understand business survival rates.
Business Minister Tara Cheyne has unveiled a new three-year strategy for small businesses, which she said would help "support a dynamic and thriving small business community now and into the future".
The strategy said the government had received feedback that businesses wanted a "more streamlined experience when dealing with government" and a "reduction in regulatory burden".
"Particularly when layers of regulation can make it difficult to start and operate," the strategy said.
One of the main parts of the strategy is to improve business experiences dealing with the government. Procurement reform will be a key part of this, the strategy has said.
There will be enhancements to the government's procurement portal and the strategy said a review of procurement legislation and policies would ensure processes are easier to understand.
"Local businesses want opportunities to supply to government and want the procurement processes to be open and transparent," the strategy said.
The government will also focus on showcasing and promoting local small businesses and will pilot a small business expo at some point during the 2023-24 financial year.
Ms Cheyne said plans for the expo were in the early stages and there was not a clear format for how it would run. She said there was $80,000 in the budget for the government to seek advice on how to run the event.
"What I would be hoping to achieve with this is businesses having the opportunity to network, businesses being able to reach new customers, businesses being able to engage directly with government and to ask those questions that they might not have otherwise had the time or opportunity," she said.
"In short, I think the expo presents a lot of opportunity but most importantly it's about showcasing and promoting our local businesses."
More training resources such as webinars and workshops will be held by the government to support businesses.
The government will also commission research to understand the survival rate of businesses in Canberra. The ACT has had the lowest business survival rates over recent years, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has shown.
The government will also investigate barriers to more women, LGBTIQ+, young people, people with a disability and culturally and linguistically diverse people becoming business owners. There will also be social enterprise grants to support start-ups.
Ms Cheyne said the government hoped to provide more support to these groups and would support initiatives that bring people together, such as Canberra Women in Business.
"So we're looking to what we can do to better showcase that including sponsoring things like awards at the Canberra Women in Business awards to show that relationship that the ACT government does have with women-owned businesses," she said.
Altina Drinks co-founder Alan Tse said the business was finding it difficult to attract the right skill set and he was hopeful the strategy would help support more "product-based" businesses.
He said skills shortages posed a risk to the future of the company in the nation's capital and the company faced the possibility of having to move its headquarters.
"We're in a combination between manufacturing in-house and warehousing because we're finding it hard to attract the right skill set in the product-based land," Mr Tse said.
"I think we need more businesses to grow in this space in that particular product-based logistics to be able to attract more people to make Canberra a right place for these types of skill sets.
"I'm looking forward to the strategy really attracting more people and businesses into Canberra and they'll actually lift the employment pool base."
Altina produces non-alcoholic wine and drinks and currently has six employees. Mr Tse said the company had to outsource its book keeping and its manufacturing to Canberra because they did not have capacity to do it in the capital at present due to skills shortages.
Canberra Business Chamber chief executive Greg Harford said the strategy recognised the importance of small business in the territory and especially welcomed at measures designed to cut red tape.
"There are around 33,000 small businesses in the territory, employing more than 81,000 Canberrans, and these small businesses really are the lifeblood of Canberra, keeping communities vibrant," Mr Harford said.
"The Canberra Business Chamber has long been concerned at the regulatory burden facing business, the complexity of doing business with multiple government departments, and the challenges of getting government representatives to understand the operations of small business."
The chamber said the strategy included feedback provided by the Canberra Business Chamber.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
