Why the future of Australia is dependent on start-ups
Start-ups and micro businesses will increasingly drive employment in Australia, but how can we reduce failure rates? Frank Wyatt explains how the Getting Down to Business initiative in Victoria helps young people with a business idea.
Once upon a time, people watched VHS tapes instead of DVDs and now we watch Netflix.
Once upon a time, we used beepers instead of mobile phones.
Once upon a time we took taxis, now it’s Uber.
Once upon a time, a Melway was kept in every car instead of a GPS device.
Everything is changing at a pace faster than ever before, and it’s only a matter of time before certain industries transition or die altogether.
All Australians need to face facts about our future: Start-ups and small businesses will drive employment; micro businesses are the fastest job growth sector.
Statistics prove that those hitting 35 years and over are producing the successful start-ups. It’s only natural when you delve deeper too. After all, it’s the over 30s who have gained the experience, knowledge, financial independence and connections to build a sustainable business. Not to mention, a family often serves to make it all the more important and far less experimental in many ways.
Fact: these people didn’t wake up at 35 and decide to don their entrepreneurial hats. From our work, we find that generally speaking, these people have struggled, tested things, sought out help from others and access to networks, fallen over time and time again and begged their loved ones to prop them up until they reach this level of sustainability.
How do we create more of these start-ups with more potential and entrepreneurial capability in order to reduce failure rates?
Locally, we can choose to continue focusing on pinching businesses and entrepreneurs from one another (as is commonly done with industry attraction and local investment schemes), or we can grow our own entrepreneurs and businesses locally.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) discusses both endogenous and exogenous growth. Growing your own is defined as endogenous growth and relies on growing economic scale and capability internally within your community rather than pinching from others. Why is this important?
Think about any company you know that has relocated. In the process, chances are, they’ve invariably automated various systems and downsized employment rates while they’re at it.
In other words, industry attraction/investment ultimately results in a net loss of jobs while growing a business in your own backyard tends to house a multiplier factor that’s far more sustainable for the economic ecology of your community.
Industry attraction is reliant upon the survival of the company attracted, endogenous growth allows for multiple business growth and thus survival.
It’s safe to say the challenge is on for Victoria
We’ve recently launched our third year of the highly successful Getting Down to Business initiative in Victoria (funded by the Victorian Government). If you know young people in your region who may be interested in starting a business get them to complete an Expression of Interest.
Over to you: What do you think? Is Victoria’s future secure?
If you’re looking for more information about Enterprising Partnerships, visit our website or get in touch with me directly via email frank@enterprisingpartnerships.com.au
Frank first shared an edited version of this article on LinkedIn. It is republished here with his kind permission.
Frank Wyatt is a nationally recognised specialist in innovative business thinking and processes bringing together teams of expertise and excellence to drive growth through business innovation, leadership, collaboration and strategy in businesses and organisations. Frank is founder or co-founder of several companies and is presently Managing Director of Enterprising Partnerships, Icon Principle and Executive Accelerators.
