Small Business

WITH the state government planning to pour $856 million into its Pilbara Cities program, it seems logical for town planning firms to exploit this opportunity by expanding in the targeted growth centres of Port Hedland and Karratha.

MADDINGTON-BASED Thermal Comfort Homes is hoping to take advantage of the accommodation shortage in the state’s north-west to build on its business and expand its customer base.

THE adage that the whole is more than the sum of its parts is an apt description for how Balcatta-based KAPP Engineering runs its business.

THE skincare business may seem all lavender oil and roses to some, but developing a product range and forging a path in a saturated market has been full of challenges for Megan Larsen, founder of Sodashi.

TOM Pado and Paul Collie have been friends and business associates for more than 25 years, and they bring diverse experience to a local manufacturer that has recently won a major contract against international competition.

‘ENTHUSIASTIC’ is a word that readily springs to mind when you meet Ella Sayers-Anderson and Cam Worth, owners of web design company Red Tiki and its not so outlandish and more refined sibling company, Simplisite.

The adversaries in a heated battle over regulation of the franchising industry in Western Australia have used submissions to a parliamentary inquiry to argue their cases.

OUTSIDE those who work in the highly technical 3D gaming industry, there are not too many people who spend their working hours navigating a three dimensional computerised world.

TRAVEL is a good business to be in, because it’s a product that almost everyone is interested in, according to travel agent and internet entrepreneur Annette Porter.

STARTING out in 1991 as a remote area housing manufacturer, Lowrie Constructions has gone from strength to strength since refocusing its business to build electrical switch rooms for resources projects.

Fleur Allen met some sceptical responses when she floated the idea of starting an online art gallery in 2007.

OKA trucks are the stuff of a boys’ own adventure, with their size, tough exterior and off-road versatility securing for the brand a reputation as a vehicle that can go anywhere and do anything.

WESTERN Australia is widely perceived as a state of opportunity, where mineral wealth offers almost unlimited potential for a range of business sectors.

HOW would you respond if faced with the prospect of losing access to half your business’s potential market?

MATT Stiles says he bought himself a job rather than a business when setting up Stiles Electrical Services 11 years ago, and since then has been on the path of growing his business beyond residential work.

ONE of the top goals of most executives is to grow the size of their business; for some, however, small is beautiful.

WHEN Tim Salik moved to Australia from Pakistan in 1999, he dreamt of a job that was flexible enough to allow him the time to spend with his family; a not-entirely unrealistic expectation.

THE Galati family business has come a long way since starting a market garden in Spearwood in the 1950s.

FOR the past two years Ashley Read has been helping to run the business his parents, Brian and Coral Read, operated for almost five decades.

BRIDGET van Herk’s dream of emulating worldwide brands like Estee Lauder and the Body Shop may be some way from becoming reality, but the chemist and founder of skincare retailer and manufacturer Bridget Black has no doubts about her business’s potential.

WHEN Craig Mason bought a Sign A Rama franchise in 1999, there were only two stores in Western Australia and the brand was relatively unrecognised.

FOR parents of young children the names, and the soundtracks, are ubiquitous – Dora the Explorer, The Wiggles, Bob the Builder are but a few.

MOST drivers would be familiar with the rubber strips placed across Western Australia’s roads and highways to count passing vehicles, but few would know the company behind the majority of these devices is Coogee-based Metrocount.

It is the enormous sculpture inspired by the story of Saint George slaying the dragon that catches your eye when driving past Perth’s newly renovated Saint George’s Cathedral.

Intricately crafting custom made engagement rings is how Stelios Palioudakis chose to make a crust after realising he had a love for dexterous work. Plus he received some encouragement from his collector father.

The boss of Coles has labelled retail trading hours in Western Australia a farce and questioned the need for any regulation, which include inconsistent regulations and anomalies.

When Bree Tinecheff completed her economics degree shortly before having her first child, she aspired to work for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

A Bayswater musician and artisan takes a low-key approach to his craft.

DEBRA Barber started home-based Online Personal Assistants in May 2008 after deciding against a return to full-time employment following the birth of her second child.

Business credit enquiries from small to medium businesses have grown steadily this year depsite over a third of SMEs having experienced a lending rate increase during the six months to April 2010, two separate surveys have shown.

It seems size really does matter in the corporate sector with larger businesses reporting a significantly higher level of satisfaction with their business banks as compared to their smaller counterparts, a survey says.

The WA Small Enterprise Network is calling on the government for policies that encourage greater use of alternative funding sources as small businesses continue to face difficulties in accessing credit.