Sutherland Shire helping to grow jobs in regional NSW
Posted on Tuesday, September 2009
Council's award winning business incubator/accelerator, the SSHED, has worked with 55 businesses and generated more than 300 jobs since 2003. Following this success, the NSW Department of State and Regional Development (DSRD) is now funding a pilot program into Coffs Harbour, the Blue Mountains and Lake Macquarie.
'We've run the SSHED successfully for six years and are now in a position to share our model, programs and key learnings with these regional business centres,' said Sutherland Shire Mayor, Lorraine Kelly.
Sutherland Shire Council is believed to be one of the first Australian councils to provide this type of service on a broader-scale to businesses outside its own area of operation.
'Our Shire-grown model is now adaptable and suitable to use in other regions. We haven't come across any other model like it in this country and hope to see it expanded into other regions if the trial is successful,' said Clr Kelly.
'Through business support, advice and networking our SSHED program helps small business owners fast track growth. Successful and growing businesses need staff and creating new jobs is really at the heart of this program.'
Figures from the UK over the past nine years show business incubators have an average success rate of 98 percent of businesses succeeding while in the incubator compared to 50 percent of businesses surviving nationally outside an incubator and 87 percent surviving within 5 years of starting. (see http://www.ukbi.co.uk/index.asp?SID+222)
The modern business incubator/accelerator model first started in New York in 1959. Latest figures available show that there were 80 Federal-government funded incubators in Australia in 2005, and there are approximately 1400 in North America and 900 in Western Europe.
The model is used successfully world-wide in both developed and developing countries.
Clr Kelly said that the program equips business with the right tools, skills, networking and advice to be successful in today's competitive marketplace.
Each business taking part in the trial will participate in an intensive business planning workshop, starting with business basics, right through to mentoring services, business analysis and improvement advice, access to seminars, podcasts and online business support.
'Sustaining these local communities and ensuring their economic viability is important if we want to ease the heavy demand on metropolitan infrastructure and services -- so Sutherland's program is a positive step forward not just for the regions but for all of us,' Clr Kelly said.
The services of business incubators/accelerators have been all the more important during the recent global economic downturn.
A publication by the US based National Business Incubation Association showed that incubators had reduced the risk of small business failure, that taxes paid by the businesses usually offset any subsidies governments were paying to support incubators and incubators were proven to enhance regional economic development.
View All Recent Media Releases
If you need an office in a hurry to impress a client, have a private meeting or to simply have some peace and quiet to meet that deadline, then the SSHED’s hot office could be perfect for you.
Read more about the hot office deal