in Small Business
Issue No. 5 - April/June 2002
An Honest Broker for Small Business
An independent, ‘one stop shop’ for solving small business problems is the image each of the six Business Enterprise Centres in South Australia wants to project. The BECs, soon to be seven in number as a new site opens at Morphettville, are a first port of call for SMEs with enquiry topping 20,000 calls during the last financial year.
Dedicated to small business, the BECs are surprisingly independent, coordinated rather than controlled by a State office in the Reserve Bank Building on Victoria Square.
“The BEC is seen as an honest broker, giving independent counselling to small business and cooperating with government and local government on local issues,” says Euan Miller, the general manager of BECSA, the coordinating body for South Australia. Euan has been in place since 1999, but the history of BECs is surprisingly long.
What was to become Western Area BEC was established in 1985, under the auspices of Business in the Community (Inc), a nationwide Rotary Club initiative based on a UK precedent. That body aimed to be a mutual support system for small business and had no public funding at all.
For some 10 years Business in the Community battled on; the State Government got involved from the mid 1990s, with the next centre, now known as Eastside BEC, taking shape under present Manager Graham Stewart.
By 1999 the Business in the Community organisation was fading, but the need for small business support was evident. Reorganised with State Government support as Business Enterprise Centres in the pattern established in eastern states, Western Area and Eastside sites were soon joined by the Southern Success and Tea Tree Gully BECs.
“Independence is critical,” says BECSA general manager, Euan Miller. “We make things work in partnership with the local business community and local government. The reason we have been so successful is our independence from government — we’re seen to be dealing with local issue...
