Victoria's Small Business Minister Philip Dalidakis brings firsthand experience to the portfolio.
Since entering parliament, he has made a point of addressing key areas that hampered the performance of his own company; work cover insurance, payroll tax and business structure.
"There are a lot of things they [prospective small business owners] need to get across, but the number one is to make sure they have got a market for the product they're wanting to sell," he said.
Among the issues the Victorian Government has addressed is the tax burden on businesses who have an annual turnover below $5 million.
The Victorian Small Business Minister is focusing on easing key cost burdens for small businesses. Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
The latest state budget brought the payroll tax threshold from $500,000 to $650,000.
Another issue identified among the state's small business community was cumbersome red tape; the launch of the Small Business Red Tape Reduction Review aims to reduce the time burden of compliance.
'We are going to focus on a number of different sectors, but the first one will be the retail sector. Anything that we can do to ensure that they've got more time in their business, or even with their loved ones is better time spent than filling out forms."
The minister describes his home state as one that "celebrates differences and isn't afraid of them."
"I think that can be true in the rest of the country as well, but in Victoria it is a point of pride, so anyone wherever they come from or whatever that background is, we want to welcome them."
Mr Dalidakis acknowledged that for a growing migrant population, language can be a barrier to business success.
To improve communication with different ethnic groups, the state has introduced a Multicultural Small business Ministerial Council, which reports to the minister.
'We need to make sure we tailor the message and we speak to them in a way that they understand, not in a way that we think they should understand. It has been a personal learning experience [as minister] to understand they need us to approach them with the same information, just presented differently."
Victoria has the fastest growth rate of small business ownership in the country, a fact Dalidakis says reflects the collective desire for people to shape their own future.
That was the reason behind Meneka Premkumar's decision to co-found the Common Good, a grocery store in Melbourne's Hawthorne that bases its business on ethical consumption.
Minister Dalidakis says the Victorian Government is focussing on communicating will small businesses. Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
"I became a Mum [IN 2013] when my husband and I started the business and we wanted to take our own destiny as a family into our own hands."
The business stocks organic produce, which meets ethical standards of production, depending on how and from where it is sourced.
"We wanted to re-engage people with the food chain and give people an option to shop ethically, which means knowing where is there food coming from and what is happening with all that money? Is it going to a corporation or is it going to a family farm?"
The Common Good bases its business on ethical food consumption. Source: SBS Small Business Secrets
Meneka said the first few years have been challenging, but that resources played a key role in getting the business off the ground.
"There are a lot of steps you can take and a lot of people out there to help, and it's really about knowing some of those resources."
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