Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell predicts 2018 will be a year of strong growth for small business exporters.
Ms Carnell said Australia’s International Business Survey (AIBS) 2017 showed there’s greater confidence among businesses that are already exporting. In agriculture and wholesaling in particular, two thirds of businesses believe the outlook is better than the previous two years.
China, the United States and United Kingdom have been identified as markets where strong revenue growth will occur.
Commissioned by the Export Council of Australia with support from Austrade, Efic and UTS, the survey reflects the opinions of 941 firms from 19 sectors undertaking international activities in more than 90 overseas markets.
“Australia is seeing increased growth in exports and small businesses are leading the way,” Ms Carnell said. “Nearly 88 per cent of Australian exporters are small-medium enterprises. An increasing number of firms are ‘born global’, which means they’re exporting at the very beginning.”
Ms Carnell said the survey findings matched Efic’s exporter sentiment index from August, which showed two thirds of respondents expected future sales revenue to increase.
“Potential exporters need to know there is support available from Austrade and Efic to research their markets, make connections and obtain finance. Over the past three years, Efic has worked with more than 262 small businesses and provided more than $350 million in financial support. Efic is the Australian Government’s export credit agency; it operates on a commercial basis and partners with banks. It’s a model I believe should also be looked at for small business finance more broadly,” Ms Carnell added.
AIBS 2017 showed just over one third of respondents had applied for finance and nearly 40 per cent of these were unsuccessful. Ms Carnell said that this illustrates the challenge for small businesses to obtain capital from traditional banks, which require property as security.
“It’s great that more entrepreneurs are getting started with exports, but rapidly growing small businesses need sources of finance that don’t require putting the family home on the line.”
Ms Carnell also said that the 2017 Australian Export Awards showcased positive case studies, one of them being small business category winner Tooletries, a designer and manufacturer of bathroom accessories such as mirrors, toothbrush and razor holders, and wall organisers that can be fixed to vertical surfaces with the its patented silicone technology. Funded by private capital and a Kickstarter campaign, exports made up 100 per cent of the firm’s sales revenue in 2016–17.
