Rarely does the opportunity come around that allows you to re-invent part of your business and almost never is there the opportunity to have someone else pay for it.

Well, right now this unicorn might be right in front of you!

The Queensland Government has announced the Small Business Covid-19 Adaptation Grant to help small businesses [with payroll under $1.3 million] that have been subject to closure or highly impacted by the recent shutdown restrictions. The grant aims to help businesses to:

  • Adapt to the new business environment
  • Sustain their operations
  • Build resilience in their business model & processes

The available grant amount is up to a maximum of $10,000 per eligible small or micro business which can be used to fund the following types of services:

  • financial, legal or other professional advice to support business sustainability and diversification
  • strategic planning, financial counselling or business coaching aligned to business development and diversification
  • building the business through marketing and communications activities, for example, content development (web pages, mobile apps, visual and audio media etc.)
  • digital/technological strategy development
  • digital training or re-training to adapt to new business models
  • capital costs associated with meeting COVID-19 SAFE requirements

Am I eligible to apply?  

Basic eligibility requires you to employ fewer than 20 people and have a turnover in excess of $75,000.

Other eligibility requirements include:

  1. your business has been subject to closure or otherwise highly impacted by current shutdown restrictions announced by Queensland’s Chief Health Officer on 23 March 2020 [for example fitness industry, beauty industry, hospitality and tourism]
  2. demonstrate that business revenue has been significantly impacted since 23 March 2020 over a minimum 1-month period due to the onset and management of COVID-19 [NB: not linked to the JobKeeper eligibility requirements]
  3. employ staff and have fewer than 20 employees at the time of applying for the grant
  4. have a valid Australian Business Number (ABN) active as at 23 March 2020
  5. be registered for GST
  6. have a Queensland headquarters
  7. have an annual turnover of over $75,000 for the last financial year
  8. have a payroll of less than $1.3 million
  9. not be insolvent or have owners/directors that are an undischarged bankrupt.

Only 1 application will be accepted from an individual ABN or a financial beneficiary of a business.

What could you do with it? 

It is great to see the Queensland Government target support like this to the small and micro end of town.  Here are some ideas of things you could potentially do with the money:

  1. Strategic workshop with a focus on business model transformation
  2. Brand advice, workshop and refresh exercise
  3. Cash flow planning and financial projections including sensitivity analysis and scenario planning
  4. Put in place one-page strategic planning and get coaching and mentoring to support with implementation and execution
  5. Employee engagement workshop and planning to create a point of difference
  6. Marketing strategy advice and workshopping
  7. PR campaign and lead generation activities
  8. Continuity planning and risk mitigation planning with all your business advisors together in the one place [legal, financial, tax, HR, marketing and so forth]
  9. Review your tech stack and put in place a technology roadmap
  10. Implement software changes like a new system or moving to the cloud
  11. Update and implement a newly revised management reporting system and dashboard to monitor performance and keep your finger on the pulse
  12. Customer centricity workshop
  13. Market and customer research
  14. Undertake a sprint with a new product, service or app idea
  15. Get the training you need in your business from leadership to financial acumen, employee engagement and data mining
  16. Video marketing campaign
  17. Undertake a ‘growth ready’ review to lay down solid plans for the future
  18. Undertake an indicative valuation of your business and more importantly discuss and identify the drivers of value in your business not and in the future
  19. Devise and put in place a flexi-working and/or remote working plan
  20. Process mapping exercise with an emphasis on automating more and more of your processes

Don’t delay – this grant will be oversubscribed and then like the unicorn it will be gone. 

For more information or to apply yourself directly, visit https://www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/advice-support/grants/adaption

Need help? 

If you think this grant can help you but don’t know where to start with the application, then contact us now to help.

We would love to help you ‘rebound’ your business and can help with any of the above services [we would love to hear from you].

Email us now at concierge@businessdepot.com.au or give us a call on 1300 BDEPOT.

Also, check out our upcoming online event called Rebound where we will explore areas of your business you should be focussing on now to bounce your business back. Sessions and topics are still being refined, but you can register your interest receive all the information on sessions and register your interest to attend here: http://offers.businessdepot.com.au/rebound-2020

Please note: The first round for applications has now closed but the second round will open on 1 July 2020. See if you are eligible for the second round in our grant update here.