Spotlight on our local business community

I felt grateful to see our community out enjoying themselves over the weekend, free from some of the COVID restrictions that are still unfortunately keeping our Melbourne neighbours locked down at home.

Our thoughts are with our metropolitan Melbourne friends, family and community members who are locked down for a further two weeks and doing everything they can to get this latest outbreak under control.

It’s a valuable reminder of how quickly situations change and the importance of spending some safe, quality time outdoors with family and friends while we can.

It’s also a great chance to support local businesses. Over the weekend I grabbed a take away coffee at a local cafe and visited Peter Lowe Reserve in Manifold Heights with our two dogs, where council has recently installed a dog friendly fence around the perimeter of the oval – check it out!

It is impossible to understate the challenges our business community has had to overcome during the past 18 months. Business owners and operators really have shown remarkable resilience and innovation dealing with this pandemic.

And even with the regional lockdown lifted, those that rely largely on tourism are still in a difficult position without visitors from Melbourne.

Hopefully it won’t be too long before the outbreak is under control and free movement around Victoria is restored.

In the meantime, we’re encouraging everyone in Greater Geelong to support local businesses.

By visiting your favourite bar or restaurant, experiencing great local live entertainers and musicians, organising a day of activities within our region, or shopping from a local store instead of a big online retailer, we can all contribute to Geelong’s economic recovery.

For business owners, please consider making use of the city’s business support program if you haven’t already.

You can access free advice on marketing, finance, grant writing, OH&S and health and wellbeing.

So far the program has supported almost 700 local businesses during COVID-19, and it’s ongoing – so visit geelongbusinesssupport.com.au if you’re interested.

This week we’ve also seen the start of the annual Geelong Small Business Festival.

Running until September 3, there are more than 40 events in a mix of online and in-person formats, with the vast majority either free or low cost.

This festival brings together some of our region’s best business experts and leading industry organisations to share their knowledge.

It’s a great opportunity to learn and build your business networks at this critical time. You can see the full program and book to attend at gsbf.com.au.

As some of you would be aware, we have also established a Central Geelong Business Reference Group (previously known as the CBD Engagement Task Force) to engage business operators and commercial property owners in the 3220 postcode to help shape the future of Central Geelong.

Looking longer-term, we’re in the early stages of developing a new Economic Development Plan to guide us through the next 10 years.

This process started with an opportunity for the business and general community to provide input about how they would like to see the council supporting local business and generating investment in the future, through a survey on our ‘Have Your Say’ page.

The survey responses are now being assessed and will help in the creation of a discussion paper, which will then be made available for community feedback.

Visit yoursay.geelongaustralia.com.au/ecodevplan2021-2031 to register to receive notifications about this project – there will be several opportunities to help shape the final plan.

As chair of the council’s ‘Arts, Live Entertainment and Hospitality’ portfolio, I’m especially interested in how we can support our economic recovery by bringing events and entertainment back to our city in a safe manner.

The uncertainty around restrictions is making it an almost impossible time for event planners, and Geelong has certainly felt the impact of events having to be postponed, rescheduled, and often eventually cancelled altogether.

I want to see us working really hard to attract new live music and entertainment events once we get through this period of continued lockdowns, so that Geelong can position itself as a genuine entertainment destination.

I’m interested in all kinds of music, as well as comedy, performance and other forms of art.

We want to be a place where there’s something for people of all ages and interests, and where visitors can always find something exciting to do.

This will help create a vibrant atmosphere around our city, in turn helping our local businesses thrive.

As always, if there’s something you’d like to discuss, get in touch: [email protected] or 0455 532 006.
Cr Eddy Kontelj