ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE BUSINESS ENTERPRISE CENTRE 1993 to 2008

The BEC has been successful in its business, industry and community development roles since its establishment. Initially it delivered a Small Business Advisory Service then gained and successfully ran NEIS and AussieHost programs. It established a Business Incubator with business support services, training and meeting facilities.

It has developed its own training capability and ran a wide range of small business management workshops, seminars and courses. A range of business, industry, community and economic  development projects and programs have been conducted.

In 2002 it created a model for rural business and industry development with the establishment of the Snowy Enterprise Centre. The Centre now integrates the concepts of community-based business incubation, business coaching, facility and services provision, business support services and development activities.

For the past thirteen years, it has made over 13,000 client contacts with nearly 3,000 clients, assisting the creation of over 360 businesses and the creation and retention of over 700 jobs. It has played a role in the development of business management education in the region through a number of training programs, workshops and vocational training programs for business and young people. Nearly 4,000 people have participated in training programs organised and run by the BEC.

It has been active in regional and community development. A number of regional and local development agencies in the Snowy-Monaro region have been created or strengthened with BEC assistance. The BEC has facilitated many local development plans and projects, whilst assisting in a number of ways in the overall development of the Australian Capital Region.

Industry development projects have been conducted by the BEC, which have enhanced business and industry sustainability in specific industries such as Lavender, Deer, Herb, Community Services, Recreation, Communications, Agriculture, Home-based business and Tourism. There have been a considerable number of local economic, business and industry development projects that the BEC has initiated or supported

The Snowy-Monaro BEC is a major advocate of the concept of community based, rural business and industry development, of which the Snowy Enterprise Centre is a model. It supports the Business Enterprise Centre (BEC) model and is active within the national BEC network. It continues to support the Business Incubator concept.

The BEC has been in the forefront of the enterprise development facilitation profession and its training of skilled and ethical facilitators. The founding BEC Manager, John Mercer, has since its formation in 1995 sat on the Board of the Australasian Institute of Enterprise Facilitators (AIEF) and in 2005 joined the Board of the Small Enterprise Association of Australia and New Zealand (SEAANZ).

He has been active at a national and international level in the development of the profession and business support service. He has worked on business facilitators' professional development taskforces for BECAN – the NSW BEC network and the AIEF, as well as speaking at conferences on enterprise facilitation. In 2004 he won the John Bailey Award for Innovation in Enterprise Facilitation. From 2006, John became the Australian Accredited Trainer for the APEC Business Counsellor Certification Program.  In early 2008 John resigned from the BEC to work overseas.

Program Outcomes 

 Business Advisory Service (1993 - 2004)

• 13,000 client contacts
• Over 2,500 clients assisted
• Assisted creation of over 225 businesses
• Assisted creation and retention of over 580 jobs

Workshops and Training Events (1993 to 2008)

• Trained over 3,300 people

NEIS Scheme (1994 to 2002)

• 140 training participants
•  74 business start-ups
•  101 jobs created

AussieHost Program (1994 to 2008)

• Over 2,000 training participants

 Business Incubator Program (1995 to 2000)

• 12 graduated business/organisations
• 28 jobs retained or created

Business Incubator Program (2002 to 2008)

• 9 graduated businesses
• 4 jobs retained or created
• 6 internal tenants (as at 31 December 2007)
• 2 external tenants (as at 31 December 2007)

Small Business Enterprise Culture Program (2005 to 2006)

• 32 business received small business management skill development training
• 10 businesses mentored towards completion of an enterprise growth plan
• 6 jobs created

Economic Outcomes to the Community (1993 to 2008)

• Estimated investment of 300 start-up businesses @ $10,000 average = $3 million investment
• Monbeef Project investment $7 million
• Estimated income from 750 jobs created or retained @ $25,000 average = $17.5 million yearly
• Grants for BEC operations, mostly spent locally, is over $1.5 million
• Grants gained for community, industry and business development activity and projects is over $200,000
• Employed and trained 15 BEC staff including 3 trainees