Loans for young entrepreneurs

As a lot of us know it can often be quite the struggle to get a small business loan or some capital to start up your micro business. I've recently found that the National Australia Bank along with a social enterprise group called ENYA is trying to change that. They are offering unfixed loans of $500- $20,000 to people aged between 18 -29. The loan application process seems quite simple and is based pretty much on the strength of your business plan. It's really good to see something like this out there. Here's a snip from there website.

"ENYA, with the support of the National Australia Bank (NAB) is committed to assisting young people overcome these barriers and is proud to introduce the NAB Microenterprise Loan Program to young people. This innovative Program makes finance, business training and ongoing support available to young people to establish or expand a business.

Specifically ENYA and the NAB’s Microenterprise Loans have been developed to support young entrepreneurs by offering:

▪ A loan of between $500 and $20 000 to young people for the purpose of starting or growing a business.
▪ A low interest rate: 5.99% p.a. fixed for the term of the loan.
▪ Access to wide network of support services including a toll free advice line, an on-line forum for young entrepreneurs and free access to business information.
▪ Access to the Youth and Enterprise Legal Centre, another of ENYA’ s initiatives, which can help you with many of the legal matters associated with starting a business on a reduced-fee basis.
▪ The opportunity for skills development in relation to many of legal matters they face in business through the free Law Sense workshops and its comprehensive program materials."

for more www.enya.org.au

Innovic - Next big thing awards

Innovic is a Not-for-profit organisation that deliver a monster range of services for australian businesses. Every year they run the 'Next Big Thing' competition. with the winner recieving $50,000 dollars in cash and prizes, as well as gaining lots of media exposure. It's a tough competition with a lot of high quality entries but well worth trying to get into if you have a business that's a bit on the innovative side.

Vegetarian and vegan restaurant franchising

Today i was in the forum at Australian vegan business. It's great because people are starting to fire around business ideas and try get peoples opinion and reach out to possible partners ect. Someone posted a question about vegan restaurant franchises, it made me think what is actually out there for people if they are interested in starting a vegan/veg resturant but would like to go down the franchise route?

Right now i don't think there are many australian mainstream franchises that are very exciting. The only one that i think stands out is Fritz gelato, they seem to be popping up all ove the place and have about 40% vegan product.The gelati is bloody great as well. But away from the mainstream businesses I think the best oppertunities for a big thinker in ethical business. Might be to find a great restaurant with a good idea and not just start one franchise and run it themselves, but go into partnership with the owners actually selling the franchises themselves.

There are a lot of great restaurants in the city but only some would make a good franchise, because they have a model and method that can be repeated.

Some of the places i think would be the best from a franchise point of view would be.

Trippy Taco: 48 Smith St Collingwood 3066 VIC Phone: (03) 9415 7711

Trippy taco is a small mexican eatery on smith street, it's vegetarian with most things having a vegan option. They have a good name, good food with a simple menu, it's mexican so pretty easy to make. They started off doing food at festivals like Earthcore and now have their own shop on smith st. With a business like this it would be cool to see someone working with the owners to take it to the next level, because it really is a lot better than most tradional chains.

Lord of the Fries Elizabeth and Flinders street


Most melbourne vegetarian will know this place well but for you out of towners. LOTF is a veg/vegan fastfood place. Great burgers with TVP, fries done euro style with lots of sauce options. They have taken melbourne by storm with two shops now open ut i'm sure more coming. It would be an easy business to run as a franchise and good because a lot of meat eaters don't even seem to realise it's vegetarian.Because the business is doing well you don't know if they want to franchise or keep all new shops within the family. People in other states may get a better hearing if they feel they have Melbourne covered.


Probably an easier idea though one with less scope is to find a great Veg/Vegan franchise overseas and bring it to australia. Transporting ideas and products is a well abused tool in business and it really does work.

Maos Falafel:


Maos is a franchise falafel shop that i've been to in amsterdam. They really have shops all over the world, europe, china, america and now australia. Apparently there is one in perth. This shop is really quite nice for a franchise falafel shop but just beware that it doesn't go the route of falafel kitchen in australia and start doing meat as well.


I'd never really thought of the idea of franchised Veg/Vegan restaurants before but thinking about it there is a lot of oppertunity.I think for people who may be interested in starting a business but are a little nervous and don't want to go it totally alone, the franchise system can be an easier way to wade into businesses ownership. Also if you find a restaurant that has a great model but the owner maybe lacks the money or specialized knowledge to take it to the next level. You may have found a great oppertunty for yourself, them and to make Veg/Vegan food even more available and accepted.

Zero capital start ups

While it’s not exactly true I started Stay Human with zero capital it is true that is started it with only one thousand dollars and I blew all that in the first week buying equipment. Now six years later it’s paying the rent and earning about 30-40k a year. Not a monster business by any stretch of the imagination but I’m pretty happy considering where I started off and what I want out of it.

I think most people would assume that you need a lot of money to start a business and that it’s also going to be a risky endevour that could involve you losing that money. While it’s true that 90% of small businesses fail within the first year and that often involves them losing a lot of money and basically going through self inflicted hell. Most people start businesses in ways that are a lot more risky than they need to be because they lack patience. People think start a business and they think open a shop. But the reason all these 90% of businesses are failing is because the people running them are really good at signing themselves up to fixed costs when they have no fixed income.

You can start a business with just a good idea and time. You can start off with a website that you run while still keeping your day job, you can start with weekend markets, you can start with a catalog and a home office, you can start by stocking other peoples shops with your items. These are ways to get the ball rolling. Stay Human is making me a living wage now, but it’s been going for six years and it certainly wasn’t making me enough to live on in the first couple. The reason I didn’t go bust is because I never expected it too and I never depend on it’s income to pay the rent. With a zero capital start up you have to be realistic in what you expect from the business in terms of return, if you invest no money in adversting other than some flyers and the website can you really expect people to give you the $50,000 a year you need to quit working? Or is it more reasonable to figure I’ll start off slow, build up and up over time and eventually I’ll be doing business full time and my call centre job will be just a bad dream.

Innovic - Next big thing awards

Innovic is a Not-for-profit organisation that deliver a monster range of services for australian businesses. Every year they run the 'Next Big Thing' competition. with the winner recieving $50,000 dollars in cash and prizes, as well as gaining lots of media exposure. It's a tough competition with a lot of high quality entries but well worth trying to get into if you have a business that's a bit on the innovative side.

For more info and entry check their website but be aware 2008 is already closed.

Innovic - Next big thing award

BESB - Building entrepreneurship in small business

The BESB program is offered by AusIndustry and is grants package that offer four services. Training and mentoring, seccession planning, incubators and field officers. Instead of giving you a cash grant if you win a BESB grant you can access any of these depending on which one you applied for. Most people in small business could probably use a little help with planning and making the most of the business but actually stumping up to pay for it isn't a reality when every dollar of even your own money is generally going straight back into the business. These grants are a good ways to get services you wouldn't get yourself but may help.

Visit the website for full details and entry forms.

BESB - building entrepreneurship in small business

oigin/3aw small business awards - monthly

3aw radio and origin energy have a small business give away which they run each month on air during the Neil Mitchell morning show. The prizes is a weekend getaway package and accomadation, aswell as a $1000 gift voucher at Office works. To enter you just have to send in 250 words about your successful venture. You also get mentioned on the show and their website.

For more information: 0rigin/3aw small business awards

or download the entry form