Visitors to this year’s Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days had the opportunity to meet local small businesses and business advisers in the SBDC Regional Start Ups Arena.
The Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days is Western Australia’s largest agricultural Field Days event, having started in the Wheatbelt town more than 50 years ago. A record crowd of 25,000 attended the event. Visitors enjoyed the exhibitions of agricultural products and machinery, 4WDs, camping equipment, gardening, cooking, entertainment and more.
SBDC Regional Start Ups Arena
The SBDC Regional Start Up Arena hosted 14 early stage businesses from around the Wheatbelt. The Arena, a first for the Dowerin Field Days, was introduced to acknowledge the integral role small businesses play in local economies and the social fabric of regional communities.
The exhibiting businesses, all of whom had been established for less than two years, received discounted booth hire and promotion on the Field Days website and in The Countryman newspaper. The exhibitors included a canola oil producer, a children’s height chart manufacturer, a creative clock customisation business, a homewares boutique, a brokerage for indigenous products and services, and more. The businesses exhibited for the two days of the event, giving them the opportunity to interact with and sell to visitors.
The winner of the Best Regional Start Ups Exhibit award, judged by SBDC advisers, was Estelle Madaffari from Merre Granola WA. The paddock to plate business creates hand blended small batch breakfast cereal using oats, honey, nuts, seeds and other ingredients sourced from WA.
Investor Readiness Program
The SBDC partnered with the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development to deliver several Investor Readiness workshops at the Field Days. The Investor Readiness Capacity Building Program 2021 – 2022 provides funding, services and resources to support Western Australian small and medium agribusiness to become more internationally competitive and investor ready. Topics presented by SBDC at the event included Understanding Your Financial Position and How to become Investor Ready.
More information
The SBDC supports regional small businesses through our SBDC Regional program, which offers business support and advisory services across regional WA.
