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Little businesses command a big role in Australia’s economy [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Not only do Australia’s small and medium enterprises 70 percent of the nation’s workforce, but they’re more likely to employ your Aunt Mathilda than that industrial behemoth down the street.

That’s just a couple aspects of a snapshot of the little companies than can, as snapped by the SME Association of Australia, a nonprofit support organisation. Here’s a couple more:

  • There are more than 2 million SMEs in Australia, representing more than 99 percent of the nation’s actively trading businesses.
  • Though NSW, VIC and QLD have the highest numbers of SMEs, such enterprises are most likely to survive in SA and TAS. OMG.

The infographic notes that large business far outspend SMEs in innovation. But is money the best measuring stick here? We would posit that untold numbers of small business are innovations in and of themselves; comparatively little was spent to spawn these new ideas, but the potential energy in those innovations are hunormous.

Also noted in the graphic: 31 percent of small business operators are women. By comparison, 3 percent of CEOs nationwide and 8 percent of executive managers are women. Some things never change.

On the other hand, SMEAA claims Australia is the second-easiest country in which to start of business, wedged between New Zealand and Canada. Easy? Hmmm. Does that sound right to you?

Image by Upside of Intertia

 

SMEs