Get help to improve your business and take advantage of growth opportunities
Closure of program
The Growth Services program closed on 9 May 2023.
Applications submitted after this date will not proceed.
Applications submitted before the closure will be progressed following the grant guidelines.
If you are an existing recipient of Growth Services:
- you will continue to be supported by your facilitator until 30 June 2023
- if you have a funding agreement in place, your agreement will be honoured and you will be able to complete your project as outlined in your grant agreement
- one of the Growth Services team members will contact you by email to provide more details.
Growth services
What do you get?
You’ll be paired with an independent facilitator. Your facilitator will assess your business then recommend operational and growth opportunities, and give advice on applying for the Growth Grant.
Who is this for?
Businesses working within, or supporting, one of the growth sectors who want assistance to grow and enter new markets.
Overview
There are 3 Growth services:
- Growth Roadmap
- High Growth Accelerator
- SMART Projects and Supply Chains.
Each of these are broken into 2 key stages:
- facilitation stage, which connects you with a facilitator
- grant stage, to fund growth opportunities.
Your facilitator will work with you and give recommendations for your business operations and growth potential.
Growth facilitation is provided at no cost to your business. However, you'll need to invest your time to maximise your engagement. You may need to commit resources such as time and staff, depending on the nature of the project.
To speak to someone about your circumstances, contact a Growth Facilitator in your state.
- Ai Group services customers in Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia.
- Deloitte services customers in Queensland.
- Business Australia services customers in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales.
- Business SA services customers in South Australia.
- Darwin Innovation Hub services customers in the Northern Territory.
Facilitation stage
Growth Roadmap helps businesses who want to improve their business practices, become more competitive, and take advantage of growth opportunities.
Your facilitator will develop a Growth Roadmap with recommendations and a plan to grow your business. The roadmap will identify:
- opportunities to strengthen your operations, such as new marketing strategies or redefining management structure
- areas to build skills, such as staff training or new certifications
- ways to increase your export opportunities
- new avenues for trade, such as identifying new markets or developing new products or services.
Your facilitator will mentor you for up to one year, to help you implement your roadmap.
High Growth Accelerator helps businesses become dynamic innovators. It will help you achieve cultural change and grow your business through persistent innovation activities.
Your facilitator will work with you to assess key areas in your business that are crucial for innovation and growth, provide pathways for development, and create implementation plans.
You will develop new or existing growth opportunities as you work through our dynamic innovation modules that cover:
- purpose driven innovation
- innovation leadership
- innovation activities
- growth through innovation
- culture of innovation.
Your facilitator may invite you to take part in this service following your Growth Roadmap service. You will need to have completed the activities in your Growth Roadmap and discuss whether the service is right for you and your business with your facilitator. There may be additional merit criteria to meet.
Your facilitator will mentor you for up to 2 years, to help you implement your plan.
SMART Projects and Supply Chains provides access to strategic or high-value projects designed to increase the capability of Australian businesses.
A project lead will manage the project with businesses and facilitators from across the Entrepreneurs’ Programme network to achieve the project goals.
SMART Projects and Supply Chains consider a wide range of industry issues such as:
- a particular industry challenge or opportunity, such as a failed market or an innovation in processing
- market opportunities and requirements
- industry disruptors such as new technology
- supply chain improvements.
Your facilitator may invite you to take part in this service. You'll need to discuss if the project is right for your business and get a project ID to apply. Your facilitator will develop a SMART Roadmap with you to address capability and skill gaps that may impact your ability to realise opportunities, and help you address those gaps to improve your business performance.
Your facilitator will mentor you for up to one year to help you implement your roadmap.
Grant stage
To action the recommendations from the facilitation stage, you can apply for a growth grant. Your grant will provide between $2,500 to $20,000 of matched funding for up to 50% of the cost to implement the recommendations.
You can use your Growth Grant for recommended activities such as:
- improving the ability and skills of your business for trade, such as engaging external experts
- acquiring new industry certifications
- improve marketing and communications strategies and practice
- implement new management structure
- review your digital strategy.
You cannot use your Growth Grant for:
- business as usual activities, such as wages, office expenses, maintenance costs, accounting, legal, compliance or government fees
- sales activities, such as advertising representatives, printing and placement, and trade shows
- activities that are already underway
- capital expenditure
- maintaining existing software
- maintaining existing industry certifications
- registering patents and intellectual property.
You can apply for the Growth Grant for each Growth service you receive.
Your facilitator will continue to support you throughout the grant process, if needed.
Eligibility
You can apply if your business meets the eligibility criteria. The eligibility criteria are a set of rules that describe who we can consider for this opportunity. You can apply for facilitation if you:
- have an eligible business structure
- operate in, or support, one of Australia's growth sectors.
Your business will:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- be registered for goods and services tax (GST)
- be a company, incorporated in Australia or an incorporated trustee applying on behalf of a trust.
Your business will also:
- have the intent and opportunity to engage in or increase trade in Australian markets and/or markets in other countries
- operate in Australia and filed business activity statements showing ongoing trading in at least 3 consecutive years.
Your business will have annual turnover or operating expenditure in 1 of the last 3 financial years between:
- $1.5 million and $100 million
- $750,000 and $100 million if your business is located in remote or northern Australia.
You are not eligible to apply if you are operating as:
- an individual
- a partnership
- a trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
- a Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government body (including government business enterprises).
Your business will operate in, or support, one of Australia’s growth sectors, which are:
- advanced manufacturing
- food and agribusiness
- medical technologies and pharmaceuticals
- mining equipment, technology and services
- oil, gas and energy resources.
Support services
Businesses that provide support services to drive business growth or improve business competitiveness through a direct commercial relationship in the growth sectors include:
- freight and logistics
- infrastructure related construction and services
- information and communications technologies
- digital technologies
- professional services.
Support services exclude routine business operational activities such as legal advice, financial accounting/bookkeeping services, catering and insurance.
Contact
Need help?
Let us answer your question via phone, email or live chat. And if we can't help, we'll put you in touch with someone who can.
- Phone:
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Open Hours:
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm across Australia
- Website:
Customer stories
We’re proud of the funding we’ve provided to support Australian businesses. Learn about some of our previous customers and how the Entrepreneurs' Programme has helped them.
Entrepreneurs’ Programme
Growth services is part of AusIndustry’s Entrepreneurs' Programme, which transforms Australian businesses by providing access to expert advice and grants.
Our program services will help you to:
- strengthen and grow your business
- connect with the research sector
- get your idea to market
- access grants to make it happen (from $20,000 to $1 million).
At the heart of the program lies our national network of facilitators. Entrepreneurs’ Programme facilitators are local, independent business experts who will work with you on your business.
Key documents
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