Backgrounder On Launch Of Bizinfo Centres

BIZ is the name of the Government's new business development programme. It consists of two parts:

1) free management training and upskilling for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), which make up 80 per cent of NZ companies

2) the setting up of a chain of shopfront offices to provide one-stop access to all the information and help available to these businesses. They are being called BIZinfo centres.

There will be 33 BIZinfo centres opening up around the country in central locations such as Waring Taylor St in Wellington and Newmarket in Auckland.

Seven will be launched this Wednesday (April 14), with the PM opening the Wellington centre. The remaining centres will be opened by various Ministers or MPs over the next month. Each site will have trained staff and printed resources such as brochures and pamphlets, as well as computer terminals. In addition there will be an 0800 BIZinfo number and an Internet site providing similar help.

Until now there has been no one-stop source of this information, and many busy business people have also been simply unaware of the range of assistance they can access.