Supporting small business to get back on its feet
North Queensland’s February flooding event was truly a one in 500-year event. The significant impacts of this disaster were not only felt across the Townsville community and its commercial interests, but the region more broadly. There were over 450 businesses directly impacted by the Townsville floods and over 2,000 resident dwellings with an estimated $1.2 billion insurance bill associated with the event itself. Over 600,000 head of cattle and 50,000 sheep were also lost from our neighbours in the northwest of the region. Needless to say, economically and from an infrastructure perspective, there is significant recovery to take place.
Five months on, we’ve seen things progress slowly but surely. Insurers and builders are reporting that it has been one of the fastest responses to a flooding event of this size and scope. However, that being said, we still have a large portion of those households directly impacted by the flood still out of their homes with many not being able to return before the end of this year.
But what we’re also seeing is a slow recovery for many of those businesses directly impacted. The economic positive is that with the influx of trades, as well as government support, local retail and accommodation businesses and the building sector have benefited greatly. We’ll see this sustained through to the middle of next year, but it will still be a long pathway back to recovery until our economy fully recovers.
As a part of Townsville Enterprise’s commitment towards assisting flood affected businesses and throughout the recovery period, Townsville Enterprise launched the ‘SME Flood Recovery Program’ to engage with small businesses that had been directly impacted and overwhelmed by the flooding event. Small to medium sized enterprise is the largest employer within Townsville and as the lifeblood driving our local economy their contribution and importance to our community cannot be understated.
The intention of the ‘SME Flood Recovery Program’ is to reach out and provide support to businesses recovering from the floods through several elements. This includes financial and business planning, support, mentoring, networking opportunities, and a Townsville Enterprise membership. The program will also provide provision of strategic planning in relation to how those businesses best take advantage of grant and financial support available through government or private sector mechanisms. Importantly, the overarching aim of the program is to provide our local businesses with a roadmap to recovery.
Local accounting and advisory firm PVW Partners is supporting the program by facilitating the financial and business planning component by working with each of the SMEs and their mentors to define exactly where opportunities might exist, how efficiencies might be realised, but more importantly how these businesses get back on their feet financially to establish a sustainable model moving forward. We thank PVW Partners, as well as other corporate sponsors of this program, the North Queensland Cowboys and Ergon Energy, that are supporting businesses in need across our community.
The ‘SME Flood Recovery Program’ has particularly focused on some of the organisations at the heart of Townsville’s community. These are your local bakers, retailers, accommodation operators, health service providers, as well as not for profit and community groups that truly are a part of our broader community. The Townsville Toy Library, Bush Oasis Caravan Park, Priceline Pharmacy, Absolute Cravings and Banjo Patterson Motor Inn are just some of the local businesses involved in the program.
Across the next 12 months, Townsville Enterprise will support these businesses whilst also reiterating the critical role that small businesses play in our regional economy. The program partners have been exceptionally generous in their time and we expect that through their support, we will see these businesses get back on their feet and become sustainable contributors to our local economy for years to come.
