Business NSW Central Coast has welcomed the announcement that the State Government’s new one-stop shop Women in Business Hub has gone live.
Designed to make it easier for women in NSW to start, run and grow their own businesses, the hub offers a range of support mechanisms.
“Business NSW has been advocating for increased support for female business owners, and it is encouraging to see a dedicated online resource to assist female business owners navigate the complexities of running a business,” Business NSW Senior Director Region and Visitor Economy Paula Martin said.
“While females are the fastest growing cohort of business owners across the nation, they still lag behind their male counterparts representing around 33 per cent of ownership.
“Any support program that helps women boost their success as business owners, encourages entrepreneurialism and helps them cope with responsibilities like family would be helpful to any female business owner on the Central Coast.”
Treasurer Matt Kean said the online hub was a recommendation of the Government’s Women’s Economic Opportunities Review to improve women’s financial security through increased workplace participation.
“There are an estimated 800,000 small businesses in NSW, accounting for more than 98 per cent of all businesses in the state but just 33 per cent are led by women,” Kean said.
“The hub will connect women with personalised support, a ‘women in business’ toolkit, opportunities for networking, training, grants, funding and mental health support to enable more women to start and grow their own business.”
Minister for Women, Bronnie Taylor, said the 2021-22 NSW Intergenerational Report identified that although women’s participation in business ownership is projected to increase, it is still expected to remain below that of men.
“As Minister for Women I’m thrilled that the Women in Business Hub is live,” she said.
“We have created the hub to help women overcome the initial challenges of starting and developing their own businesses.
“It will connect women to trusted resources including the Women’s Financial Toolkit and the Return to Work Toolkit which was designed to help women easily navigate reliable resources.”
Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government, Victor Dominello, said the hub will evolve over time, ensuring women receive targeted, bespoke information at their fingertips.
“By consolidating the relevant information and resources under the one roof at Service NSW, customers will now spend more time running their business and less time on bureaucracy,” he said.
The hub will provide female business owners information on grants, funding, training education, networking, mentoring, mental health support as well as links to assistance.
Founder and Executive Director of Women on Boards, Claire Braund, said an online portal which helps people navigate the “bureacracy of doing business” can save everyone in business a great deal of wasted time and effort.
“The Women in Business Hub appears to be another Service NSW offered aggregator and as such, has lots of handy links to resources, opportunities and compliance requirements and considerations when running a business,” she said.
“The 100-plus links across the entire site take you to other government resources, forms, websites of useful organisations and funding opportunities.
“However, I think the most useful aspect for women is the ‘Business Concierge’ offering personalised support via a phone booking system and Business Connect, offering tailored advice.
“I can see these adding real value for women who may just want to talk to someone about an issue.
“There is also no doubt that making the website language and branding female-friendly provides encouragement to women that they are not alone in a sea of men in business.
“Fostering the growth of women in business is clearly an economic and social imperative, particularly post the great resignation post COVID.”
For more information on the hub go to https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/business/support-women-business
Terry Collins
Whilst this new resource hub most likely won’t make much of an impact on the representation of women in leadership positions, it appears to be quite useful for women in business with its resources and links.