Rob Morgan

Are you a NSW startup looking to commercialise your innovative product? Unlock your potential with the Minimal Viable Product (MVP) Ventures Program! The MVP Ventures Program is a NSW Government grant to support businesses bring new innovations to market. A total of $3 million is available each year for the next four years starting this financial year. There will be three application rounds for funding throughout 2025-26. The program will offer two funding streams, with a tailored stream for businesses founded by women, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and regional entrepreneurs to address systemic barriers to raising required co-contribution funding. ◾ Stream 1 is available for all eligible businesses with a maximum grant of $50,000 and a minimum co-contribution of 50%. ◾ Stream 2 is available for eligible women-owned businesses, regional businesses and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander businesses with a maximum grant of $75,000 and a minimum co-contribution of 25%. Applications for Round 1 of the 2025-26 MVP Ventures Program will open on Monday 1 September 2025. To check your eligibility and how to submit your application visit: https://lnkd.in/gkhPdR55 #NSWIndustryPolicy #InnovationBlueprint #StartupSupport #MVPVenturesProgram 

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Australia is on the brink of a small business succession crisis - and the numbers are staggering. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), almost half of Australia’s 2.6 million small and medium-sized businesses are owned by principals over the age of 50. Even more alarming: 22% - more than 500,000 businesses - are owned by people aged 60 or older. Over the next decade, as these Baby Boomer owners retire, hundreds of thousands of profitable, well-run businesses will come up for sale. These businesses employ millions, underpin our local economies, and represent decades of hard work and community contribution. But there’s a problem: the buyers who want to keep these businesses alive can’t access affordable funding. Banks are comfortable lending against bricks-and-mortar - but they’re far less supportive when the asset is a business built on cash flow, relationships, and reputation. In the US, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has been tackling this exact issue for decades. In 2024 alone, SBA-backed loans provided $56 billion in funding to more than 103,000 small businesses. These loans typically: - Cover up to 90% of the purchase price - Have low default rates - Create 3 to 3.5 jobs per $1 million lent within three years It’s a proven model. It works. Australia? We don’t have anything like it. We guarantee home loans for first-home buyers through the Home Guarantee Scheme, but we don’t back the next generation of business owners. If we don’t act, many of these businesses will be sold to offshore buyers, shut down entirely, or consolidated by private equity groups that don’t share the same long-term, local focus. It’s time for the Australian government to step up. We need a business loan guarantee scheme modelled on the SBA.

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