Seymour Business Report Launched

Fri, Feb 3, 2006; by Bill Coppinger.

[Reproduced with permission]

Seymour Business Retention and Expansion Programme [BREP]

Background

It is essential to have a community which supports initiatives that focus on listening to and helping existing businesses to grow and prosper. The Business Retention & Expansion Program (BREP) is a community sponsored initiative which uses a structured interview process to learn about local business requirements, concerns, ideas and opinions.

The BREP supports and encourages economic and business development by discovering the barriers to survival and growth that face local businesses. The Program is derived from the economic development principle that sustainable business growth is created by retaining and expanding existing businesses, rather than by attracting new business into a community.

This report focuses on the BREP conducted in Seymour during 2004-2005. The Program was funded by the Department of Human Services through the Seymour Neighbourhood Renewal Program and facilitated by Mitchell Shire Council and The Seymour We Want.

• Download The Business Retention & Expansion Program (BREP) report here. [PDF 398KB]

Steering Committee and Task Force

The Steering Committee comprised the three key stakeholders organising the Program who co-opted individuals from the local community, business, educational institutions and government to form a local Task Force which advised the Steering Committee.

A small number of volunteers were trained to conduct face-to-face interviews with local businesses in Seymour. Eighty two businesses were surveyed over a six month period.

Survey – Research Methodology

The survey was the tool that encouraged business owner/managers to talk about their perceptions, concerns and issues. The survey focused on the following key areas:

• Business structure and history
• Business environment
• Business constraints
• Business plans
• Business support for the community
• Business information and skills requirements
• Business use of email and internet
• The opportunity to elaborate on perceptions and ideas about what was needed to
  encourage business development in Seymour and to help local businesses do better.
  

Program Objectives

Interview businesses in Seymour to:

• Demonstrate community support for local businesses
• Discover the concerns and issues perceived by local businesses
• Encourage new ideas in terms of economic business development
• Collect a range of quantitative data to give a snapshot of small businesses in Seymour
• Respond to immediate business concerns.

 

• Download The Business Retention & Expansion Program (BREP) report here. [PDF 398KB]

Acknowledgments

The Seymour Business Retention and ExpansionProgram is a project of the Seymour Neighbourhood
Renewal Program.

It was funded through the Department of Human Services and administered through Cutting Edge Youth Services and Mitchell Shire Council.

The Seymour Business Retention and Expansion Program is indebted to the Central Ranges LLEN for the assistance they provided, both in-kind and financial.

Steering Committee

• Adam Cockerell – Employment and Learning Coordinator for Neighbourhood Renewal, Cutting Edge
  Youth Services, Uniting Care
  
• Sally MacDonald – Business Development Officer,
  Mitchell Shire Council
  
• Renee Laan – Project Co-ordinator, The Seymour We
  Want
  
• Anita Buczkowsky – Anita Buczkowsky & Associates
  

Seymour Task Force

• Bill Coppinger – Central Ranges LLEN
• Peter Cox – Betta Electrical
• Debra Williams – Transfield
• Mary McGillian – Goulburn Valley Institute of TAFE
• Adam Cockerell – Seymour Neighbourhood Renewal
• Sally MacDonald - Mitchell Shire Council
• Renee Laan – The Seymour We Want

Volunteers

• The BREP is also indebted to the volunteers who conducted the business surveys for the project.