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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2001 Week 5 Hansard (3 May) . . Page.. 1537 ..

> Other planned enhancements to the Business Gateway that will benefit small business include:

* a single registration point for multiple business data bases such as tender information;

* a Business Innovation and Opportunity Showcase that will not only showcase ACT business, but will provide an opportunity to match ACT businesses with investment opportunities;

* a better search facility specifically for the Business Licence Information Service (BLIS). This will facilitate searching for compliances in industry groupings, without having to complete a BLIS question and answer session.

* an Indigenous Business portal that will provide information, useful links and training opportunities for Indigenous business people.

Small Business Growth Program -The Small Business Growth Program was introduced during 2000 to consolidate several smaller programs and offer a greater degree of flexibility in meeting the needs of the ACT home-based and small business community.

Through this program, BusinessACT assists approximately 50 small and micro businesses (including home-based) annually with their strategic development needs through the use of dollar for dollar subsidies to engage professional support. Areas of support include business and market planning, e-commerce strategies and strategic training.

The Program also provides support for a range of non-profit organisations that deliver value-adding services to the broader business community. Organisations supported include:

> Indigenous Business Chamber-to assist with the development of indigenous small businesses in the ACT;

> Enterprise Development Institute of Australia-to provide comprehensive training in business planning for small and home-based businesses;

> Tourism Industry Council of the ACT & Region-to deliver coordinated industry development services to the ACT & Region tourism industry;

> Ngunnawal ACT & District Indigenous People Aboriginal Corporation Inc-to support the delivery of the Community Development Employment Program to the ACT & Region indigenous community.

Business Seminar Series- The Business Seminar Series which is particularly targeted at small & home-based businesses, has proven to be a popular and effective vehicle for raising awareness of issues relevant to the business community. The program offered 8 seminars during the 2000 calender year, with approximately 1,500 ACT & Region home-based and small business operators attending.

Some of the seminars included in the 2000 series canvassed issues such as marketing, GST, TransACT and tendering and procurement. The next major seminar on the program for 2001, "Science gets down to Business" is being held on 30 April 2001 in conjunction with the Science Festival.

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