Romance Was Born, Josh Goot, Dion Lee, Kirrily Johnston. They have all been granted government assistance under the TCF Small Business Program (SBP). It can provide funding up to $50,000 for small designers and manufacturers (less than 20 employees) when most of your production is done in Australia.
With another three years of the grant still to be delivered, there is still plenty of opportunity for a small business to be successful in applying. The grant provides funds for projects that will change your business – not just improve it, but make a difference in the way you do things.
What makes a successful application? The first element is to have a clear picture of what it is you want to do, rather than just what the money might buy, if it was given to you. If you have a project that you believe in, it is easier to explain, better planned, and will be described in the application with passion.
For instance, Nookie was granted $50,000 to implement an online enterprise management system for the 2011/2012 financial year, while in the same period Ellery secured nearly $25,000 to purchase a new pattern making system. These are specific business investments, not hand-outs.
The second most important element is to understand what the grant program is allowed to fund. This requires knowing the rules of the grant; can I buy equipment, pay staff, pay myself, travel, buy stock, buy materials, get consultants, buy advertising or one of the hundreds of ideas that will increase your sales or help with costs? Some of these are allowed, and some are not. Guidelines do spell out what is eligible and these can be found at ausindustry.gov.au or by contacting hotline@ausindustry.gov.au.
For the SBP the key is; what will change the way you do business? Many projects are rejected because they improve the business but in reality the business is doing the same thing, just a bit better. For example, employing staff, running an advertising campaign or buying extra or bigger machines. These just allow you to do the same thing quicker, to more people or at less cost. There is no fundamental change in the business model, the customer type, the customer location, the manufacturing process or the business process. This is why, when the detailed responses are asked for it is difficult to answer the specific questions asked.
When a business decides to implement a business computer system or a CAD pattern system, market to a different customer type, look for new market segments or innovate in the production process – then answering questions regarding strategy or creativity in business skills, decision making, how your work practices will change or why you will have flexibility in key aspects of your business become the reasons for doing the project. The increase in sales, lower costs and better profits must be seen to flow from the changes. They must be systemic changes to the business.
Do not treat the grant as a right; that government should make your business profitable. It must be cost effective for you; but treat it is as an investment where the government wants to see your belief in the project. So don’t short change your own contribution, either in cash or efforts to make it work. The questions asked by AusIndustry in the SBP application require thoughtful responses – for the applicant to really think about what it is that they are going to do in their project. AusIndustry do not want your marketing campaign for the consumer. They want a business solution for effective change.