The Small Biz Bus plans to visit Cobar on a regular basis

Neil Irlam and Peter Croft spoke with Angela Webb from AWI Consulting when the Small Biz Bus was in town on Thursday.
Neil Irlam and Peter Croft spoke with Angela Webb from AWI Consulting when the Small Biz Bus was in town on Thursday.

If you missed the Small Biz Bus in town last Thursday, don’t worry—the service has plans to visit Cobar on a regular basis.

One of the advisory staff travelling with the bus, Business Enterprise Centre (BEC) chief executive Peter Croft from Dubbo, said they are planning more visits to Cobar.

“We received a good response from business operators and have made arrangements to re-visit Cobar within a month to provide further advice and assistance to those that have requested it,” Mr Croft said.

“Some business owners were not able to visit us at the bus, so we intend to visit Cobar regularly to provide timely and more convenient business advice.”

He said the main purpose of the visits was to expand awareness of the SmallBiz Connect Program in the business community and provide advisory sessions for business operators.

Local business operators who visited the van last week were able to pick up a wide variety of information and advice ranging from business start-up, marketing, business expansion, e-commerce, human resources, social media, benchmarking and product development to name a few.

Mr Croft said after speaking with local business people in Cobar he found there was a general optimism about the future, however he said some operators had reported a recent drop-off in trade.

“The general impression was that business owners were looking for growth and diversity and ways to improve and create greater efficiencies in their operations,” he said.

“Similar responses were encountered in other towns we have visited.”

Mr Croft said business owners don’t have to wait until the van next visits Cobar to contact them.

“If a business operator or someone looking to start a business requires assistance, they should contact us – there is no need to wait for a visit of the bus.

“We provide advice and information under SmallBiz Connect when it is needed,” he said.