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Inspiring Our Youth
To Realise Their Potential

Business Growth Project

The initial pilot stage of this project has been completed, with 51 businesses interviewed and six selected to work closely with our business mentor on strategies aimed at growing their business, and hence local employment.

This project is based around the premise that there will be businesses within the regional economy which, with close support from a trusted mentor, can find mechanisms to substantially grow their business, or avoid business failure.

Finding a skilled and trusted business mentors is one of the key challenges with this approach to regional economic development, and RDANI was able to secure the services of a successful local business entrepreneur to work with the business owners.

The mentor walked owners through issues such as:

  •     Long-term goal setting;
  •     Competitor analysis;
  •     Credit policy and cash-flow;
  •     Capital investment options such as purchase versus leasing;
  •     Budgeting;
  •     Using digital and social media to grow their markets;
  •     Refreshing the businesses corporate image;
  •     Identification of gaps in the market;
  •     New product development;
  •     Business planning and risk reduction strategies.

The outcome was 12 new jobs, and 12 jobs retained.  It is anticipated that by the end of 2014, the plans that have been put in place for the six businesses may have generated 50 additional jobs.

Developed around the U.S. concept of 'Economic Gardening', this approach is based on the philosophy that not all of our regional economic development focus should be on attracting businesses and agencies from outside the region.  Most regions will have some existing businesses with high growth potential, though identifying them and nurturing their expansion can be a challenge.  An additional benefit of the approach is that local businesses usually use local supply chains and services, so the economic flow-on benefits occur within the region, unlike externally sourced businesses or national chains/franchises whose supplies and services are often sourced from capital cities.

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Phone02 6771 0700
Emailrdani@rdani.org.au
Opening Hours 9.00am to 5.00pm Monday to Friday
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Address 143 Marsh Street
Armidale NSW 2350
Postal Address PO Box 72
Armidale NSW 2350
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An Australian Government Initiative