Smythesdale business networking lunch hears from Federation Uni professor

Business & Economic Development
Smythesdale

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Around 60 guests gathered at Smythesdale's Courthouse Hotel today for a business networking event as part of the Victorian Small Business Festival.

The guests, including many local small business owners, heard from Associate Professor Sam Henson, Head of Campus at Ballarat's Federation University.

Associate Professor Henson spoke about the latest trends in the business environment, and how businesses could grow sustainably and successfully.

Mayor Cr Des Phelan said that a broad range of organisations, businesses, industry and government were represented at the lunch.  

"Today’s event is about celebrating the success of local businesses in Golden Plains Shire," said Cr Phelan.

"Council is proud of how many accomplished and well-known businesses can be found in the Shire, and events such as this give us an opportunity to network with local businesses and meet new people

"Especially in the North of our Shire, we have a high concentration of small and medium sized business. These include those offering professional services such as engineers, architects and accountants.

"Another large business sector is in construction, with many builders and tradies having their businesses registered locally and servicing the wider area including Ballarat.

"Wineries and cellar door businesses also feature strongly in Golden Plains Shire and attract tourism with their award-winning wines.

"We know that Smythesdale and surrounding communities are growing strongly, with recent figures indicating population growth of around 10%.

"Although traditionally Golden Plains has centred on farming and agriculture, this is changing as the population base grows.

"This makes it more viable for existing businesses to service local growing centres such as Bannockburn and Smythesdale, as well as our smaller towns.

"A large proportion of our residents also commute to regional centres in Ballarat and Geelong.

"Our Council supports businesses by facilitating training and networking events; we also work with business owners to access grants from state and federal government.

"We're encouraged by the support today, and are looking to hold more events like this in the future," concluded Cr Phelan.

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