Business News

Fri Jul 8

Jos de Bruin COSBOA's 2016 small business champion

Written by Zoe Guest

Kate Carnell, Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, presents CEO of Master Grocers Australia (MGA), Jos de Bruin, with his Small Business Champion award at the Vodafone National Small Business Summit.

The CEO of Master Grocers Australia (MGA), Jos de Bruin, was named 2016 Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA)’s Small Business Champion at the Vodafone National Small Business Summit.

Jos was presented his award by Kate Carnell, Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman – a respected member of the small business community.

Paul Nielsen, Chairman of COSBOA, bestowed the honour to Jos for his dedication to small business and his work surrounding competition policy, in particular section 46, The Effects Test.

Paul said: “Jos is most worthy of the accolade of the COSBOA Small Business Champion for 2016 for the terrific work he did in marshaling 23 industry associations, representing 900,000 businesses, and other interested parties, together with government, to discuss the most necessary changes to competition policy recommended in the Harper Review.

“The implications of the changes to section 46 cannot be understated and will have far reaching effects for small business over the next 20 years.

“Jos works tirelessly to bring together the interest groups. COSBOA and small business owe him a great debt of gratitude.”

Section 46, if enacted, will assist the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to act quicker and regulate the behaviour of dominant businesses, which is to the detriment of the market.

Like COSBOA, Jos believes in a level playing field for businesses in Australia, which allows small businesses to compete with big businesses and in a fair environment.

Speaking about his award, Jos said: “I am thrilled to be awarded the COSBOA Small Business Champion award. I’m passionate about small business and seeing their futures protected. I hope all the work I and the businesses and associations I’ve worked with on the Effects Test are enacted upon sooner rather than later.

MGA Independent Retailers is a fast moving, agile and forward-thinking employer organisation supporting Independent Supermarkets, Liquor Retailers and Hardware Stores in Australia. As a national employer organisation, its role is to support employers with areas of their business that they may not have the time, money or resources to focus on.

To find out more about COSBOA, visit: www.cosboa.org.au

To find out more about the Summit, visit www.nationalsmallbusinesssummit.com.au

Hashtag: #NSBS16

Thu Jun 16

Taxi Lineup expands its operations in Australia

Written by Julie Jullien

Sydney, Australia, Uber disruption can work the other way with Taxi Lineup, the new service launched recently in Sydney, allowing taxi drivers to deliver parcels 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After two months of operations, the Sydney-based company expands its activities to more cities across the country.

Taxi Lineup was developed by Australian business owner Anthony Lechner after he searched unsuccessfully for a cost-effective platform to get urgent deliveries across town at any time or day of the week.

The premise is simple. Taxis provide a large network of registered drivers that can be tracked across the city and suburbs, and are on the road 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Existing local courier services are mostly restricted to business hours delivery and a limited fleet of vehicles.

Since inception at the end of March, the young start-up has seen a steady growth. With a network of more than 300 registered taxi drivers operating in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Canberra and Newcastle, Taxi Lineup already services daily bookings (with a weekly growth rate of around 40%) for individuals and businesses across these cities.

The Taxi Lineup Application development team has been simplifying and improving its booking process to allow customers to book instantly, with no account requirements. Users are able to track bookings from pickup to delivery. Taxi Lineup offers three delivery services, 1-hour, 3-hour and same day (6-hour). The start-up has been featured in major newspapers across the country including The Age and SMH.

Their driver network is increasing 30% per week, and taxi drivers are seeing the service as a new important source of income. Some drivers already earned more some days with parcel deliveries than with passenger rides.

The team is looking to expand to all the capital cities in Australia (Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart), as well as important regional cities (Gold Coast, Wollongong, Geelong, Launceston…) whilst also taking enquiries from interest’s internationally including Europe, USA, Asia and Africa.

About Taxi Lineup

Taxi Lineup is an instant booking courier service for businesses and individuals to book express deliveries 24/7 using local taxis, saving time and money compared to traditional courier services. Taxi Lineup works online and with its mobile apps on iPhone or Android phones. Fore more information visit www.taxilineup.com.