At our Sept 15 Rotary meeting our Guest Speaker was Paul Smarrelli, a long time member of our club, and formerly General Manager of Presslight Australia. Paul's concern for Small/Micro Business, and the lack of Federal/State Govt support, led him to his Consultancy role with the Darebin Business Recovery Program. Leading all LGA's with this enterprise, Darebin is investing $11,500 to support small/micro businesses. Paul's own business experience comes to the fore in his role in assessing all applications for assistance. Paul has identified that there can be a lack of forecasting/ strategic planning , and in his comprehensive assessments of businesses over a number of visits, he focuses on improving cash flow, working capital reserves and profit building, as well as formulating a strategic plan. Small /micro business offer the highest opportunities for revenue growth and financial trading improvements that would lead to generating additional Net Profit and working capital to fund investment, and expansion in employment in the workplace. Considering that 95% of small businesses are present in Darebin this is clearly an important program being delivered.
Great work Paul!
