Launch Your Own Business

Project Summary

Everyone recognises the value of new business startups. Investment, employment, Gross Regional Product, exports, and commercial tenancy rates amongst many other economic indicators can all improve from having more businesses. Indeed the number of startups each year is a commonly used leading indicator of economic development. In our region, there were 140 additional businesses in 2020 compared to 2019. To see which councils and industries they were in, see: Businesses by industry | rda-ahfki | economy.id

Workshops

In 2020 RDA AHFKI sought expression of interest from individuals in the community to undertake an introductory workshop on starting a business. The interest was clear and in early 2021 we ran three ‘Launch your own Business’ workshops. They were held in the Adelaide Hills (Mount Barker), Fleurieu Peninsula (Chiton Rocks) and on Kangaroo Island (Kingscote). Launch your own Business was aimed at people wanting to start a small business and the critical steps to get them off to a good start.

We received positive feedback from all attendees. The average score given for the level of satisfaction for the workshop was 8 out of 10 with all participants agreeing that they would be happy to recommend the program to other small businesses. 70% of participants said they would be able to apply ‘quite a bit’ of the information from the workshop to their small business.

Attendees said the workshop covered a lot of ground, included a lot of great content and was a good overview of what is needed. Some felt the workshop needed to be longer so RDA AHFKI will take that on board when planning any future workshops.

Participants also would have liked the chance to connect with others in the workshops and RDA AHFKI are considering a regional business startup network.

RDA AHFKI would like to thank everyone who attended the workshops, as well as the facilitators Julie Allerton and Rick Kearney from Adelaide Business Hub.

Media Coverage