Sydney talks business

The Let’s Talk Business (LTB) series is back, the series kicked off on April 5 with The Networked Business – how cloud computing is revolutionising business.

The talk featured Rene Sugo, Co-Founder and Technical Director at MyNetFone, Dominic O’Hanlon, CSO at MYOB and Paul Wallbank, business futurist and author.  The talk focused on how small businesses can harness emerging technologies to revolutionise their everyday practices, enhance customer relationships and potentially become leaders in their field.

The Networked Business was the first of four LTB talks which will take place at Customs House until July 19.

Valerie Khoo is an entrepreneur who founded the Sydney Writers’ Centre. Ms Khoo is returning in her role as mediator of the talks.

“Each seminar tries to tackle a topical issue that can really help small business owners in their business growth and productivity,” Ms Khoo said. “Using technology is this year’s theme, using technology to improve you business by getting new customers and improve efficiency.”

Jodie Fox is co-founder of Shoes of Prey, a Surry Hills based company. Ms Fox will be talking at the next in the LTB series on May 10.

““Shoes of prey is a website where women design their own shoes,” Ms Fox said. “We developed all the software in-house so that women can choose every aspect of their shoes and then we have the shoes hand-made and shipped back to them.”

Ms Fox was excited about the opportunity which existed in Sydney for small businesses to be globally competitive.

“We have a great opportunity for Australian businesses to not only do great things here in Sydney and domestically but also off-shore, and I think now is the time to really foster that innovation and help our businesses become globally competitive.

“The majority of our market is off-shore,” she said. “Sydney is such a beautiful place to live and I think it is a lifestyle choice to be able to live and enjoy such a gorgeous city and not be limited by the fact that we are so far away from our market. We’ve broken down geographical boundaries.”

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP said the seminars support a vital sector of the community, 16,000 small to medium businesses that contribute more than $40 million to the economy every year.

“These businesses play a crucial role in enlivening our communities and strengthening Sydney’s local economies, as well as providing jobs for many,” Ms Moore said. “I’m looking forward to hearing bright new ideas from some of Sydney’s most exciting business leaders, people who are working hard to nurture creative and innovative enterprises in our city.”