If you’re a small business owner in Melbourne, you’ve probably felt the effects of the national shutdowns and restrictions over the last few months. Luckily, your government is preparing to help you get back on your feet as restrictions ease. Round two of the 2020 small business grants have been pushed back, and will open in early August for businesses who have been affected with COVID-19 with a market-ready product to invest in themselves.
Who’s eligible to apply for a small business grant?
To be eligible for one of these small business grants from the City of Melbourne:
- Your business must be located within the City of Melbourne, or you must be planning to move to the municipality within three months of applying for the grant.
- Your business must employ less than 20 full-time equivalent employees.
- You must have a registered ABN and an appropriate legal business structure.
- Your proposed product or service must be market-ready.
- Your business proposal must be able to proceed without our grant.
- The application must be complete and include financial statements or other requested attachments.
It’s also important to note that franchisees, subsidiaries of larger companies, unincorporated associations and government departments or agencies are unfortunately not eligible to apply for these grants. For the full list of eligibility criteria, make sure you check out the City of Melbourne website.
What’s the purpose of this round of small business grants?
These grants, called ‘quick-response business grants’ are designed to provide financial support to businesses that have been affected by COVID-19. There are three different categories of the grant, so it should be pretty easy to find one that your business fits into:
Capital works grants
This grant funds the costs associated with capital works used to produce income, including things like:
- equipment, including major catering, processing and production equipment;
- business fittings, including retail, wholesale, and hospitality shop fittings;
- physical alterations, including remodeling of premises;
- IT and software;
Online and e-commerce grants
This grant funds the costs associated with online and e-commerce activities, including the purchase of hardware, software and services in any of the following areas:
- website design and development;
- e-commerce platforms (selling online and receiving payments);
- online content development (web pages, mobile apps, audio and visual media);
- digital marketing and promotion;
- mentoring and training in online and e-commerce activities.
Training and professional development
This grant funds the costs associated with increasing and enhancing worker capability to better
prepare for a return to business activities. Suitable professional development activities can include, but are not limited to:
- online learning, webinars;
- attendance at training courses, seminars, workshops, forums or conferences;
- in-house courses delivered by an external provider or other training.
Why choose Digital Surfer to help with your online and e-commerce capabilities?
Digital Surfer is an expert in providing a range of online services for our clients. Our goal is to get you found online and by extension, get the phone ringing – which is needed now more than ever.
If you’ve been thinking about getting a fresh website (or a website at all) or increasing your online presence with digital marketing, SEO and local SEO, now is a perfect time. You’re being presented with a unique opportunity to invest in the future of your business and set yourself up for continual success in the future, so long as you have a product or service that’s ready to go now.
Trust the team at Digital Surfer to find out what terms people are searching to find businesses like yours in Melbourne, and help you move up on Google so that competitors are seeing your business before your competitors. Our expert team also has years of experience creating modern, responsive websites that will draw your customer in and make them more likely to pick up the phone or buy your product.
Contact the team at Digital Surfer today to get started.
Our business is to help your business, so you can get back to doing what you’re good at. Reach out to our team today for a chat about where you’re at and what ways we can help you thrive.