Business Basics Grants to relaunch next week

The third round of the Business Basic Grants, which was placed on hold due to a nation-wide outage with the online portal SmartyGrants, will relaunch next week.

Minister for Employment and Small Business Di Farmer said that Our Community’s SmartyGrants technical team had worked to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and the issues experienced with the Business Basics grants application portal on 4 May had been resolved.

“With the portal ready to go, Round 3 of the Business Basics grants will open for applications at 9am on Monday 16 May for Regional Queensland and at 9am on Tuesday 17 May for South East Queensland small businesses,” Minister Farmer said.

“We understand the stress and frustration of small business operators who were attempting to apply for the Business Basics grants on 4 May.

“The program was closed as soon as the issue was identified, which affected all SmartyGrants users across Australia and internationally.

“The portal has been extensively tested by the external provider, Our Community, who has given an assurance that the portal is safe and stable and the grants program can proceed,” Minister Farmer said.

“Our Community’s CEO Denis Moriarty has issued a statement apologising for the stress and interruption of this round has caused and I would also like to thank our small business community across Queensland for their patience while the issue was resolved.

“Round 3 of the Business Basics grants round will be relaunched and applicants who attempted to submit an application will need to restart the application process. This ensures the process continues to be fair and equitable for all applicants.

“Our Community has also made a commitment to my department to provide additional support in the assessment of the grant applications to ensure that there will be no loss of time in announcing successful applicants for this grant round. 

“Hence, we are working to ensure small businesses receive these grants in line with our originally intended timelines.

“SmartyGrants is Australia’s most-used grants management system and used in 45 countries around the world. My department has worked with Our Community for more than five years and successfully delivered more than 20 grant rounds without incident.”

Minister Farmer said since 2021, the small business grants under the Big Plans for Small Business Strategy had supported more than 3440 businesses with funding commitments totalling more than $20 million.

“There is $5 million available in this round of Business Basics, with $1.5 million dedicated to businesses from regional Queensland, because they are the heartbeat of regional communities” Minister Farmer said.

“Business Basics is a popular and valuable program designed to assist a broad range of small businesses, including sole traders, to give them the financial means and, importantly, the confidence to increase their capabilities and grow.

“More than half of the projects funded under Business Basics to date have supported businesses to enhance their online and digital presence, which is critical for future growth.”

Business Basics Grants information and eligibility criteria are available online at www.business.qld.gov.au/business-basics

Intending applicants can also direct any queries to the Small Business Hotline on 1300 654 687.

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