The Enterprise Melbourne start-up grants are designed to assist with the establishment of new and innovative small businesses that will increase the diversity of the city’s business community. Only one grant will be made to an eligible business.

Up to $30,000 is available for small businesses located in, or intending to locate to, the City of Melbourne municipality.

Applications close 18 March 2013

What can you claim?

The start-up grant supports the following categories of expenditure directly related to establishing a new business:

• The costs associated with improving the façade and fit-out of business premises.
• The costs associated with the development or enhancement of a business website.
• The costs associated with purchasing IT equipment for the operation of the new business / or as part of the business expansion activity.
• The costs associated with purchasing specialised equipment / software that is directly related to the operation of the new business / or as part of the business expansion activity
• Expenditure items that are not listed above, but that can be demonstrated as significantly crucial for the start-up / expansion of a specialised business.

General operational expenses including rent, utilities, training, marketing, networking and staff remuneration are not considered.

Assessment criteria

Each application will be assessed against the small business grants objectives and assessment criteria.

An assessment report is prepared for consideration by an external independent review panel. The panel will consider the conforming applications on a competitive and merit basis and make recommendations to a specific council committee for approval.

Applications that offer the most valuable contribution to the achievement of the program objectives and those that are consistent with Council’ strategies will be offered grants. Preference will be given to businesses that:

• demonstrate a strong point of difference
• do not duplicate existing products and services available in the central city
• demonstrate ‘business readiness’ (that the product and/or service is well-researched, planned and financially viable)
• demonstrate financial viability and sound management
• deliver measureable economic benefits to the City of Melbourne
• demonstrate sustainable business practices
• preferably in one of the City of Melbourne’s key target industry sectors.

The City of Melbourne’s key target industry sectors are:

• advanced manufacturing
• biotechnology
• finance and business services
• environment services
• creative industries
• higher education
• information and communication technologies
• hospitality
• retail.

On average, applicants will be notified of the assessment outcome three months from the closing date of the application. All decisions are final. There will be no review or appeal process however, unsuccessful applicants are eligible to re-apply.

More Information

• Small business grant guidelines (PDF, 2.2MB)
• Small business grant guidelines (text only, 76kb)
• Start-up grant application form (Word, 2.1MB)
• Start-up grant application form (text only, 292kb)
• Financial projections template (Excel, 60kb)
• Guide to completing financial requirements (Word, 124kb)
• Financial projections template – notes (Excel, 70kb)