Festival helps to inspire small business success

THE City of Greater Geelong and Geelong Chamber of Commerce are lauding the community, business owners and venues who helped make the Geelong Small Business Festival a success.

The 13th edition of the month-long festival featured 72 low-cost and free workshops, presentations and networking opportunities for locals looking to grow or improve their small business.

A total of 2,127 people attended sessions either in person or online, including one woman who attended a whopping 24 events throughout August.

Mayor Trent Sullivan thanked everyone who put in countless hours over the course of the festival.

“Last month’s festival once again proved just how inclusive our local business community is by coming together to share insights, help each other out and make new connections.

“We’ve received some lovely feedback about how supported business owners, employees and those looking to start their own business felt and the new skills and knowledge they are now armed with.”

Geelong Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer, Jeremy Crawford said it was wonderful to see such a diverse range of participants this year.

“Our survey found we had community members engaged with the program aged between 18-24 all the way to 70-84 and attendees who hadn’t started their business yet to those who have been running a business for 10 years or more,” Jeremy said.

“This demonstrates the breadth of business owners and experience levels in our region and the commitment to improve, grow and learn from others in the local community.

“It was especially satisfying to see the number of larger businesses giving back to the small business community to enrich the business ecosystem, offering events for small businesses to grow, learn and develop.”

Community members told a City of Greater Geelong survey they thoroughly enjoyed learning new skills and connecting with other local businesses and people.

“Best event I’ve been to” and “fantastic event at an affordable price,” some participants said.

“Wonderful presentation. Well thought out and relevant to all audience members regardless of what stage in their business journey,” another added.

Local business owner Mio Ristic from Video Vault delivered his own event Supercharge Your Content Marketing with YouTube and ChatGPT.

He said he thoroughly enjoyed hosting his own seminar and enjoyed learning new skills at other presentations.

“I attended six events throughout the festival with a variety of motivations to learn new skills or to refresh existing skills.

“I absolutely recommend people attend the 2024 Geelong Small Business Festival as it’s a great opportunity to gain new knowledge, meet other people in a similar situation or start embarking on your business journey.

“No one is going to come knock on your door and offer you a business. You’ve got to get out there and market and gain new knowledge.”