Supporting small businesses to grow and create more jobs is at the forefront of the Hodgman Liberal Government agenda.
Small business is the lifeblood of the state’s economy employing more than 100,000 Tasmanians.
The government’s Digital Ready for Business program is about getting small business online and helping them grow into the future.
The program reaches out to small business and gives them the knowledge to understand and participate in the ever growing digital economy.
We have committed $800,000 over four years to the program as part of the Getting Behind and Backing, Small Business policy.
The program is a rebuild of the former Ready for Retail initiative, which the government promptly grew to include online bookings and engaged 950 small businesses.
We are continuing to grow the program and it now includes greater online content, promotion and monthly updates, and to date we have engaged a total of 1247 businesses – six times as many as what the former Labor initiative reached.
Two further rounds of seminars and coaching will run in coming months in Hobart, Launceston, Scottsdale and Flinders Island.
These cover topics such as how to utilise social media, Facebook for business, cloud services, search engine optimisation and online advertising.
I know of small business success stories from around the state and recent seminars held on King Island, were booked out.
An upcoming tourism focused session is also proving very popular.
The Hodgman Liberal Government is serious about helping business, we’ve committed the money, delivered on our promises and we’ve got the formula right.
Small business operators keen to find out more and register for an upcoming session, can visit www.digitalready.tas.gov.au
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