The Greater Ararat Business Network would like to congratulate Craig and his team on their new venture; The Ararat Advocate.

Its wonderful to see so much local content and especially contribution from all around our beautiful region. As we know the Carona Virus has affected everyone from school children to parents, workers and businesses as a whole across the region even though we have been thankfully well buffered from the numbers our city counterparts and other countries have experienced we none the less have faced many challenges we never thought possible on such a large scale. This has greatly reduced the capacity for our business to trade and given we are situated on a direct route to the Grampian our ‘Tourism’ businesses have been hit a fairly savage blow as has our retail sector so to see new business as well as the adaptation of existing businesses to take on different methods to deliver their goods in a safe and sustainable way has been incredibly inspiring! We have some of the most resilient and innovative people living in our region so with the impetus of the Ararat Rural City Council and support of the GABNetwork together we have launched the #Strongertogether campaign which you will be seeing on your TV screens across the next couple of months. The message is simple: as a community, as businesses and as a region, if we support each other by shopping with local traders at every opportunity then we keep doors open and employing people. Our businesses support local sporting clubs, provide school scholarships and give us their front counters and faceboook pages to help raise money for local raffles and promotions so ultimately your dollars flow back into the community in which we live. Please think about this when you open your wallets.

Our GABNetwork committee has been busy behind closed doors keeping updated information and links to funding opportunities on our Facebook page. The new website is almost complete and we will be launching this in the not so distant future as another way businesses can contact us and be engaged in all that is on offer from becoming a GABNetwork member.

We have a schedule of events ticking along in the background just waiting to be given the green light for gatherings so please keep an eye on our Facebook page for what we will be hoping will turn into a re-launch called Beers & Ideas.. I cant give too much away other than to say its an opportunity to pitch your business idea to a well respected panel of business people.. with the winner taking home some brilliant prizes!

Our committee is always here to assist you if you have questions or in need of someone to listen during the difficult times as we are all business people and understand the ‘roller coater ride’ that owning and running a business can be! We also encourage new business be it home based, retail,  agricultural or manufacturing to get in touch.. we are here for all business.

Please contact the Business Development Officer Phillippa Cairns on 53550241 or email : pcairns@ararat.vic.gov.au for any queries or assistance.

Maria Whitford

President Greater Ararat Business Network