Business Count Data

What does Business Count data tell us?

Business Count data from the Australian Business Register helps to develop a deeper understanding of the make-up of a local economy. It helps to identify and highlight the importance of certain sectors such as sole traders and small businesses.

What does Blayney’s Business Count data tell us?

According to the ABS Counts of Australian Businesses, out of the 769 registered businesses in 2012, 507 or 66% were made up of non-employing businesses. This suggests that a significant proportion of the local economy is reliant upon sole traders followed by small business owners employing 1-4 people at 24%. Most sole traders were in the Agriculture, forestry and fishing sector followed by Construction and Retail Trade.

What opportunities does Blayney’s Business Count and Home Based business data present?

The importance of sole traders and small businesses is clearly illustrated by their dominance in the local economy.

In 2011, 10% of Blayney Shire’s employed population worked from home in home based business compared to 1.3% in Bathurst Regional Council Area and 3.5% in Regional NSW.

Although some of these numbers could be attributed to the proportion of farmers in the region, this is still a significant figure and opportunities exist to assist local entrepreneurs to grow and exploit opportunities within the marketplace.

Various initiatives can be undertaken from practical mentoring and the provision of specific training courses to networking opportunities, etc. Further programs can be developed to help businesses 
access funding programs; raise their profile through networking and publishing ‘business success stories’, entering business competitions and inclusion in a local business database; identify industry champions and cluster groups; development of a regular business support newsletter to inform 
businesses of training and funding opportunities, events, new developments, etc.

Additional opportunities also exist in the form of encouraging and supporting residents and school leavers who wish to establish their own businesses which in turn helps to further diversify the economy. This can be done in partnership with schools for example, by organising ‘Career Development Days’ and by hosting ‘Setting-up your own Small Business’ function.