Small businesses across Queensland are being offered grants and new skills to make their 2021 a success.

Navii Digital’s Queensland Business Revival course, part of the Queensland Government’s Small Business Online Training Program, will provide participants with easy access to grants currently available in Queensland and more than $2000 worth of professional courses for free. Hosted by industry experts from Navii Digital, the program delivers digital and business capacity building through short online courses, inspiring case studies of small businesses and live coaching sessions daily to fast-track their recovery into 2021.

The need to improve digital know-how as part of skills for the future is backed by recent research conducted by MYOB, which indicated that only 22 per cent of the Queensland small businesses surveyed rated their use of digital technology as high.

Navii Digital CEO Liz Ward says these results demonstrate there is clearly the need to actively help small businesses recover and kick off 2021 as strongly as they can. “Recent research showed less than a quarter of Queensland small business owners rated their use of digital technology as high,” explains Ward, “meaning there’s tremendous room for improvement and growth. We know that for small businesses, incremental changes in their digital capabilities can lead to significant growth in their access to customers and in revenue, making them more resilient and sustainable.

“We appreciate that some digital improvements come at a cost, for example developing a new website or setting up e-commerce and fortunately there are grant funds available presently so we’ve included in the program the latest information and links for grants available to Queensland business,” Liz said.

“The Queensland Business Revival program has been tailored specifically to help small business owners. It provides inspiration from other small businesses who have been on the journey – sharing their stories and demonstrating what is achievable. It’s all done through interactive and hands-on learning, meaning participants end up with a plan that is tailored specifically to their business and situation.”

Participants can access the courses at Queensland Business Revival until  30 June 2021, but spaces are limited so early registration is recommended.  The program consists of content and courses that cover a range of essential business skills, including: sprucing up your online presence, all things social media, optimising your website, getting your website lead funnel ready, email segmentation and marketing automation, managing cash flow, human resource management, business planning and customer recovery techniques, and preparing to re-enter the workforce and up-skilling for the digital economy.

Readers also enjoyed our story about The Hidden Sea Wins