Bundaberg Regional Council is encouraging small businesses to take advantage of unfettered access to free online training courses.
Through the Queensland Small Business Skills Hub, small business owners, start-ups and their staff can access over 500 highly relevant online courses, ranging from a few minutes to an hour, for free, until December 2020.
The Hub is a partnership between the Queensland Government and local online training company, GO1.
Through the hub small business operators can access free online courses on topics such as Leading a Successful Business, Digital Skills, Connecting Businesses and Customers and Foundation Business Skills.
GO1 Small Business Lead, Paul Russell, said it was an opportune time for small businesses in Bundaberg to take stock of the path forward and upgrade their skills.
“There’s a lot of stress on small businesses broadly at the moment because of the COVID pandemic and the spending reduction by consumers,” Paul said.
“This is an opportunity for small business to have another look at their core business plan and to make constructive changes to come out the other side.”
“Part of the exercise is to learn new ideas and concepts and also for their employees to boost their knowledge and skills.”
With over 400 courses available, Mr Russell described the GO1 library as a Netflix of knowledge.
“If you think of Netflix or Travago, they aggregate learning content from all over the world and they have over 70,000 individual courses in their library,” he said
“A lot of businesses are understandably very stressed, so a lot of small businesses are needing to take stock of where they are in the market and possibly learn new skills and tactics to compete in a more digital world. This afford them the opportunity to learn those skills and tactics.”
Executive Director of Strategic Projects and Economic Development at Bundaberg Regional Council, Ben Artup urged small business to take advantage of the free online courses.
“One ingredient in getting people back to work is getting them the skills that they are going to need for the future.”
“Some may seek to upgrade their skills, while others could look at laying the foundation for a whole new career or business model. Either way these free courses will contribute greatly to helping small businesses and employees decide on their next steps.”
The Queensland Small Business Skills Hub will have courses across four topic areas:
- Foundation Business Skills;
- Leading a Successful Business;
- Connecting Businesses and Customers; and
- Digital Skills and Adapting to Change.
To access the free courses, eligible small business owners with an ABN registered in Queensland and a team of 20 or less staff can register at https://www.qldskills.com.au
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