A roadmap to build your business

Company Directors and KPMG have launched a unique program to support the needs of owners and directors of small to medium-sized businesses. 

Business owners are busy people primarily concerned about the day-to-day running and the long-term future of their businesses. Many have become directors by default and worry about their director liabilities. Some consider professional directorship as a future career while others just need more support to run their businesses.

To meet their unique needs, Company Directors has collaborated with KPMG to deliver the Directing Growth Program.

“Partnering with Company Directors to develop this program is the perfect marriage,” says Peter Siebels, national managing partner, private enterprise, at KPMG.

“The program will enable the development of good governance structures, deliver a roadmap for growth and provide the tools business owners need to support long-term viability.

“We are delighted to be involved in this exciting new initiative focused on mid-size businesses.  It’s the market segment that our private enterprise division is firmly focused on and we understand both the opportunities and challenges it faces because we work so closely with both privately-owned and family-owned businesses that comprise this sector.”

The two main components to the program are:

1. A new business owner resource centre plus regular email updates with practical and relevant information.
2. A targeted program for owner/directors of mid-sized businesses who want to take their business to the next growth stage.
   

The program will also include:

• Four seminars a year run in each state, the first of which will be in October.
• A member-only online portal featuring high-quality customised content, new business tools and Q&As, podcasts/videos, webinars and more.
• Interactive discussions via closed social media groups.
• Informal networking opportunities.

“There are lots of networking groups for entrepreneurs and business owners, but this is much more than that. This is a community for like-minded directors underpinned by a robust and practical learning program which will join the dots between governance and sustainable growth,” says Jacqui Emery, strategic partnerships manager at Company Directors.

Emery notes that the program is targeted at the mid-market. “As the peak body for directors in Australia, we have an obligation to provide education and information to promote excellence in governance in this important sector of the economy,” she says.

No program exists in Australia that is as customised for this market segment or has the same degree of substance. “What has been created is a high value, high impact program of engagement that will drive innovation and growth strategies in the mid-market.”

In June, Company Directors held several member focus groups to test the program’s content.

“Members were quick to remind us that owner directors work in the business often more than on the business,” says Emery.

“So we have developed a solution that recognises the difference from a professional or independent director audience.

“Our members also told us that whoever leads this program will be critical to its success so we have engaged an expert panel of business owner directors to guide us on the ongoing development of the program.

“Because business owners are our biggest membership segment, we are committed to developing a solution that will be engaging, relevant and meaningful to them.”

Alistair Gordon, a successful entrepreneur and business owner director sits on the panel for the Directing Growth Program.

He notes: “The mid-market is the engine room of the economy, but it often gets lost between the profile of the larger players at the top end of the market and the voting power of the two million voters that make up the small business community.

“Yet we know this market employs 23 per cent of working Australians and brings in 37 per cent of business revenue. And the agenda for most leaders in this segment is growth. The content of the program goes through the lifecycle of the owner/director from becoming a director to getting on top of governance and compliance while also exploring growth opportunities, strategy and how to maintain performance.

“The program brings the best of all worlds with a blended learning approach where participants have the benefits of online learning which they can do in their own time combined with seminars where they can attend and learn face-to-face and network with their peers.” 

Seminar topics

 Seminar 1 — How to build an innovation framework for your business
 Seminar 2 — The search for growth
 Seminar 3 — Get your business sale-ready
 Seminar 4 — Your Director Journey