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Ballarat Business Community Launches Festival

05 July 2016

Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis today joined Commerce Ballarat and the region’s small business community to officially launch this year’s B31: Ballarat Business Month.

It’s one of eight regional festivals taking place as part of the state-wide Small Business Festival Victoria that will run throughout August.

Speaking at the launch at Ballarat’s Lake Health Group, Mr Dalidakis said the festival was an important event in Ballarat’s annual calendar, with small businesses making up 97 per cent of the region’s business community.

The 2016 program features events across a range of topics from business development and mentoring, online business and marketing through to managing and hiring staff.

The festival comes as Victoria’s small business community is recognised as the country’s leader, with more than 540,000 businesses.

We are outgrowing the rest of the country with 9,000 new businesses created last year alone – almost double the national average.

Twenty-eight per cent of Victoria’s small business community is based regionally.

This year’s festival again has a strong regional presence, with more than 50 per cent of the program being delivered across a number of host sites including Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Mildura, Geelong, Gippsland, North East Victoria and the Great South Coast.

The 2016 Small Business Festival program will feature more than 450 free or low cost events state-wide, creating valuable opportunities to help small businesses get the support they need to network and grow.

For more information on B31: Ballarat Business Month events and the 2016 Small Business Festival Victoria visit www.business.vic.gov.au/festivalExternal Link

Quotes attributable to Minister for Small Business, Innovation and Trade Philip Dalidakis

“B31: Ballarat Business Month connects the region’s business owners and equips them with the latest industry tools to grow their business and provide more opportunities and more jobs for the Ballarat community.”

“More than a quarter of Victoria’s small businesses are in regional and rural Victoria, with many local economies depending on their success in providing local jobs and growth in the regions.”

Reviewed 19 August 2020

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