Orange City Council aims to match businesses to businesses

Orange City Council has launched a new project aimed at matching business-to-business opportunities to encourage purchasing from regional suppliers and drive growth in local jobs.

We would like to invite you to participate in this confidential online survey aimed at gathering information about the main products and services your business buys and sells. We anticipate the survey will only take around 10 minutes to complete.

The main outcome of the project is the creation of a publicly available, online business directory for the region. The directory will have information for businesses to identify where there may be common needs in respect of supply and production of products and services, and/or coordination of transport and other logistical elements. Confidentiality will be maintained at all times.

All information collected, including the identity of businesses providing information, will remain confidential at an individual business level, and will be used solely for the purposes of this project, unless specific permission is sought from you in advance in consideration of potential business introductions.

Council anticipates there will be opportunities for local businesses to buy and/or sell their products and services more cost effectively locally, or in a cooperative manner with other local businesses.

Depending on responses to the survey, Council may contact you to request a follow-up discussion where we have identified opportunities for your business with regards to the following areas:

• Increased awareness of businesses operating within the Orange region and related networking opportunities;
• Potential to realise economies of scale and cooperative purchasing power;
• Opportunities to add value to products and services to fill supply gaps in the region;
• Identification of common transport needs and current barriers to trade in the region.
• Those businesses who complete the survey will be provided with, at a minimum, a summary report of the findings from this survey. There will be some publicly available reports but these will not identify respondents.

Council is also planning to host workshops during June and July 2017, depending on supply chain relationships identified as a result of the survey responses. These workshops will facilitate introductions between businesses identified as potentially having common needs, with the overall aim of creating efficiencies in supply chain management, and promoting growth in jobs and wealth for the greater Orange region.

This project is being jointly funded by Orange City Council and the NSW Department of Industry under the Murray Darling Basin Regional Economic Diversification Programme (Energise Enterprise Fund) and is expected to deliver significant benefits to local businesses.

If you have any questions or comments on the survey, please contact:

Kellie Pickering

Supply Directory Project Manager

Orange City Council

Phone: (02) 6393 8279

Email: kpickering@orange.nsw.gov.au