By Chris Screen, Head of SME Banking, St.George Business Banking Group
Supporting small business benefits the whole economy – providing new opportunities for individuals, employment as the business grows and creating new suppliers and providers for businesses to collaborate with. That’s why the St.George Banking Group is proud to partner with the AusMumpreneur Network in hosting the recent AusMumpreneur Conference and Awards.
The AusMumpreneur Network is innovative because it focuses on women in home based businesses. Supporting mothers to return to the workforce after having a baby is so important, and has many benefits, including for families in providing flexibility, choices in when, where and how women work and how childcare is managed. This eases the burden and expense of childcare, and enables women to have more freedom and flexibility for their family. Having four young children of my own, I can really appreciate the important role of an AusMumpreneur to her family.
At St.George Bank, we value our relationship with small business – we’re ready to listen and we’re committed to helping Australian small businesses grow. With the AusMumpreneur community members, we’re keen to get involved and have provided dedicated business bankers, who were present at the Conference to answer questions and get to know delegates from all over Australia.
We’re seeing an increasing number of mothers who are now starting and growing successful businesses, often from their home office. Small businesses play a vital role in Australia’s economy and our focus at St.George is to help business owners prosper and grow.
The calibre of the Awards finalists is extremely strong and provides a great inspiration for other Australians considering starting their own business.
St.George Bank is more than a traditional business bank. We are very keen to help with mentoring and support of our business customers. It was a great opportunity to be a part of the AusMumpreneur Awards and to listen to new ideas and be part of this vibrant community.
I was excited to learn first-hand about how home based businesses work and the unique challenges and opportunities in this sector.
Being in business isn’t always easy and we wanted to recognise some of the individuals who had overcome significant challenges in the past 12 months. St.George appreciation awards were given to three individuals who had shown incredible courage and determination in supporting their families. These recipients were Danielle Proctor of The Rocky Road House, Carol Brunswick of Abdomend and Emma Price of Source Kids.
We will be working with AusMumpreneurs in the future and look forward to becoming a valuable part of your community.
