It has been a year, more than a year, since I joined the Small Business Centre West Kimberley and proudly boasted that I would be posting much more regularly than my predecessor on this blog. Well, I got that wrong, didn't !? In my defence I will claim that it has been a very busy year, especially learning about what else is required of me in the role as Manager and Facilitator here at SBCWK, as well as realising just how wide the range of issues facing small business owners is.
It has been a tough year for many small businesses in the region, following the announcement by Woodside and its joint venture partners that it would not be proceeding with a proposal to build an LNG processing hub at James Price Point, north of Broome. The announcement and timing came as something of a surprise, and rather than seize the potential opportunities that would flow from the decision, it seems much of Broome went into a state of shock. A number of businesses have closed, or moved to other centres, and new businesses have been slow to fill some of the gaps left.
The overall feeling has not been helped by another patchy year in the tourism industry. Some businesses, particularly some Indigenous tourism ventures on the Dampier Peninsula, reported good results, while others struggled, The good news is that a new Tourism plan for the region has been launched by Tourism WA: "Experience Extraordinary". It is now up to local operators to leverage off the back of the extra funding and support being put into the region.
Three elections in one year, local, State and Federal, probably hasn't done a lot to boost the confidence of small business owners either. The less said about the potential for another Senate election in the New Year the better. For us at the Small Business Centre West Kimberley there is no doubt that we have seen a lot more clients since the September election than in the few months before. Keep it coming!
It hasn't been all doom and gloom, of course. There have been some successful start-ups this year, and other small businesses that have continued to improve their performance and their results. We would like to congratulate once again Northwest Hydro Solutions and Bali Hai Resort and Spa for making it all the way to the finals of the Western Australian Regional Small Business Awards. Maybe it will be your turn next year!
While I may have broken the rules of maintaining a blog, we've done a lot better with our Facebook page. The number of "likes" has increased by over 150% (admittedly from a very small base!) If you would like to find out how to get even better results than that, come along to our third Social Media and Your Business workshop, on Wednesday December 4th. You will be amazed at how much you can discover in just two hours. Please contact us here at SBCWK on 9193 6622 for a registration form.
We look forward to hearing from you soon!
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