SHOWCASE THE GEELONG REGION’S CAPABILITIES
The Geelong Chamber’s strong message of “buying and trading locally” as the focus of its recent Geelong Region Buy Local Campaign needs to be constantly reinforced if the region’s attitude towards using local suppliers and professional services is to be changed!
Money spent outside the region purchasing goods and services that could be spent locally is seen as an unnecessary and costly drain on the local economy that takes away many valuable jobs in the process.
Essential Economics Pty Ltd informed us at the time that the Geelong community spends over $1.2 million on purchases outside our region every day! This equates to 5,000 prospective jobs lost to the region!
This estimate only related to retail escape sales. It did not account for lost “business to business” transactions where many professional and other services are engaged from outside the region nor did it include purchases over the internet.
The Chamber and its partners, through the Buy Local Campaign, wanted to change attitudes towards local suppliers – not only by retail consumers but also for business transactions.
Often this situation arises because local businesses and the community are not aware of the expertise, talent and innovation that are available in the region.
Obviously, the region needs to promote its capabilities better so that this constant drain or leakage stops occurring and the Chamber asks all purchasers to first be aware of what is available in the Geelong region before they venture to other areas to meet their needs.
This point can be demonstrated by the success of the Industry Capability Network Ltd which was first set up in Geelong in 1984 to find locally manufactured products and processes to help avoid importing them from overseas.
Since it started, the Network has generated over $2 billion of products sourced from Victorian manufacturers which would have been otherwise sourced from overseas and this success has seen the Network expand across Australia.
We see glimpses of the Geelong region’s capabilities and successes in media releases from time to time, but we do not have a complete register of local goods and services and special expertise that could be readily accessed when these are needed by businesses.
Recent examples are the winning of the prestigious gold medal by Adams Print at the 26th National Print Awards and the admission of Austeng Engineering into the Manufacturing Hall of Fame.
The transporting of the huge Kan Tan 4 deep water oil drilling platform from the Middle East to Geelong last month for major repairs and maintenance is another demonstration of the region’s special capabilities.
There are many other regional successes that can be claimed.
What this showed in 2007 was a need for better promotion of all regional goods and services available through a working register where local innovation and capabilities can be detailed.
The Geelong Chamber tried to set one up in 1999 as an internet portal to allow all regional manufacturers, professional services and businesses to be showcased but, despite a lot of stakeholder support, it could not attract funding.
However, the Industry Capability Network has recently set up its own website Regional Industry Link (RIL) which provides up-to-date information on project and business opportunities available while saving time and money by listing local suppliers.
While RIL does not list all of the services available in the Geelong region, it does provide information on listed local suppliers and contractors. RIL is a free service and should be accessed by all seeking information in these areas.
If all of the Geelong regional community traded and sourced goods and services locally it would be to everyone’s economic benefit.