South West Small Business Fair a success

Bunbury businesses took full advantage of opportunities to speak with representatives from a number of government agencies at the South West Small Business Fair on Friday.

Bunbury Geographe Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer Mark Seward said the opportunity had been too good to pass up for many.

“There was a real pent up demand within small businesses to have access to the agencies that were represented at the fair,” he said.

“Taking time out of your business to individually contact all those departments is a big task, never mind having to find out who you need to be speaking to in order to get traction.

“To have individual representatives from different departments in one place, at one time, was very valuable as it allowed personal connections and networks to be made with those departments.”

More than 200 people pre-registered for the fair which was a Federal Government initiative.

Forrest MHR Nola Marino opened the fair before a variety of presentations from the different agencies.

Mr Seaward said he also spoke to a number of people who were looking at starting small businesses.

“That was a really positive sign,” he said.

“It means people are once again sticking their head above the wall to maybe make that leap into business — that’s a healthy sign.”

The Bunbury fair was the fourth to be held in Western Australia following events in South Perth, Ellenbrook and Mandurah.

“It was a very well run event,” Mr Seaward said.

“The speakers had a lot of good things to say about federal assistance and funding that was available for certain situations or industries.

“I took stuff away from it myself and we’ll now be able to pass that information on — that’s what we’re here for.”