GAP Summit to champion mid market

GAP has been championing the mid market for the last 20 years and the Summit on the 7th and 8th of September, 2017 will bring together 120 people who have a vested interest in seeing the midsize business sector grow and thrive in Australia.
We will gather in the Legislative Assembly Chamber of NSW Parliament House, to discuss the barriers to growth for midsize businesses in both metropolitan and regional Australia and how best to break down some of the walls that a preventing the mid market from thriving.
The attendees are a collection of representatives from business, government and academia, and as in the past, the aim of the Summit is to develop recommendations that those in the Chamber feel they can action. GAP facilitates this by providing a safe space for collaboration and information sharing, between people that don’t usually share their challenges.
This year’s Summit marks a milestone in GAP’s history as we celebrate our 20th anniversary. It is made all the more special when I look back at the genesis for GAP’s existence – it was founded to provide Australian small and medium-sized companies access to markets, networks, customers and policy development.
While GAP has grown and changed over time, to become an organisation that initiates dialogue on a range of topics, we are still committed to shining a light on what we call the “hidden giants” of the Australian economy – those companies that employ between 20-199 staff and turnover between $10 million – $250 million .
This is the sector that, as it grows, will have a significant impact on employment figures, this is the sector that has a proven track record of being agile and has the experience of success and challenge, and this is the sector that is stuck in the middle of the sexy start-up and booming big business. It is the sector of successful family business and succession planning.
I am excited to see where the discussion will take us. It’s always a surprise. Last year’s Summit established the Australian Space Initiative – an advisory group that is working on a novel model for a space agency.
Each GAP Summit is the beginning of a year of activity, and I’m looking forward to designing the outcomes with the delegates who wish to be involved.

Catherine Fritz-Kalish is the co-founder and Managing Director of Global Access Partners (GAP) and Director of the International Centre for Democratic Partnerships (ICDP) and ICDP Foundation. She also holds Board positions for a number of not-for-profit organisations.