Albany Business Centre offers free business advice through Business Local service for small businesses

A free State Government-funded business advisory service is available to help small business owners in the Great Southern.

The Business Local service is supported by the State Government’s Small Business Development Corporation and serves the more than 220,000 small businesses in WA.

It offers free expert advice to small business operators in the form of one-on-one in person or online appointments and group workshops on topics including business planning, financial management, marketing and social media.

SMDC business advisory services manager Lisa Legena said small businesses were “incredibly valuable” for regional communities in WA, where a quarter of all small businesses were located outside of the metropolitan area.

“Small business is not a small job,” Ms Legena said.

“Many small-business owners wear multiple ‘hats’ and take on a multitude of roles.

“At times, the challenges they face may be beyond their expertise.

“For this reason, we have created a network of expert Business Local advisors with local knowledge who small business owners can call on for practical and confidential advice at absolutely no cost.”

The Business Local service in Albany operates out of the Albany Business Centre.

Kade Sims, the owner of Albany’s Beck and Call Coffee, said the service had helped him to expand his business.

“I’m into counting coffee beans not numbers, so the support and advice from Richard (Keeler) at Business Local for our grant application was incredibly helpful,” he said.

“Our application was successful and we now have the funds needed to expand our business model, which is really exciting.”

Jordan Wilson, the owner of Albany IT business Concept Tech, said Business Local was a “great jump start”.

“It gives people the best chance to jump off if they want to grow their business and the incubator at the Albany Business Centre gives you a safety net to trial a new business to see how it goes,” he said.