TFIA and AFC active on grants
NATIONAL: The Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia (TFIA) have sketched out plans to offer advice on the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Post-2005 Strategic Investment Program (TCF Post-2005 SIP) Scheme.
The peak employer body for the $9 billion Australian textile and clothing sector was looking at enhancing its services to members after receiving a growing number of enquiries on the TCF Post-2005 (SIP), confirmed TFIA executive director Ashley Van Krieken.
The scheme was designed to foster the development of a sustainable and internationally competitive TCF manufacturing and design industry through incentives to promote investment and innovation, Van Krieken said.
"We believe we can act as an honest broker in advising companies on the ins and outs of what can be a fairly complex process. We have a good understanding of the scheme and a good relationship with [scheme administrator] AusIndustry," he said.
The TFIA - whose membership comprises 350 companies across Australia - would be in prime position to advise assist companies lacking a large market presence, he added.
"The advice would be particularly useful to smaller companies who don't have the resources, finances and time to work with large consultancies."
Van Krieken stressed, however, the TFIA had no intention of replacing SIP consultancies.
"We certainly do not want to be seen as poaching on the territory of the consultancies. Plans are still in the early stages but it might be a case of acting as a provider of initial advice and then referring members on for more in-depth consulting.
"We already assist companies on customs procedures and other similar processes, so this is really an extension of that assistance. Given the success we've had assisting with small business claims it seems to make sense."
Australian Fashion Council (AFC), a division of the TFIA, described this year's uptake of another AusIndustry TCF scheme - the TCF Small Business Program - as a "triumph".
"We had great success with our TCF Small Business applications, with 14 out of 18 of the AFC members we assisted being successful," said AFC head Zoe Edquist.
She added the bias of this year's success stories was disheartening however.
"Although a great result by any measure, we were a little disappointed that a few of our members missed out who we felt had very strong applications. It seemed that AusIndustry had a real preference for IT and e-commerce based projects and that export, brand support and product diversification projects did not seem to achieve the support they received last year."