Covid-19 may have had a devastating impact on Australia’s economy, but as the New Year begins, a sustainable economic rebound is possible.
TradeSquare believes this can be achieved if the nation’s businesses focus on the country’s internal strengths and opportunities.
“The culture of the business community has been changed forever by the pandemic, offering new opportunities benefiting local manufacturers and suppliers, especially indigenous communities and companies operating in remote parts of the country,” explains TradeSquare founder Einat Sukenik.
‘Love local’ redefined
As Ben Lazzaro - CEO of the not-for-profit Australian Made Campaign - says, Covid-19 redefined the term ‘love local’.
“The pandemic very quickly highlighted our over-reliance on imported products. I think it brought it home to a lot of us that the way we choose to spend our money can have an impact on Australia’s self-sufficiency as well as our economic future.”
TradeSquare, Australia’s first B2B marketplace providing SMEs with a digital platform to source an unprecedented range of products from Australian distributors at wholesale prices, was already in planning when Covid-19 hit Australia last March. Recognising the time was right, the concept was fast tracked to soft launch by August and by the end of the year, the marketplace hosted about 350 companies selling more than 10,000 brands and 100,000 different items.
Sukenik says TradeSquare’s vision is “to build an Australian ecosystem of organisations that enable economic recovery and sustainable growth for regional and remote Australian businesses, while empowering and supporting the next generation of digital entrepreneurs”.
First Nation business opportunity
A key pitch for the company this New Year is to work with Australia’s First Nation businesses who are set to be major beneficiaries of the trend towards buying local, drawing growing awareness and respect as entrepreneurs.
A report published in December by Supply Nation - a national directory of verified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses highlights that increasing Indigenous procurement by the corporate sector by just 1 per cent represents an $8 billion opportunity for the Indigenous business sector, potentially creating 19,000 jobs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Only months after TradeSquare began trading, participating Australian businesses are reporting increased opportunities to search and source products they were previously unaware of - from indigenous and non-indigenous businesses alike - resulting in a newfound satisfaction of being able to support Australian businesses rather than sourcing offshore.
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