We are thrilled to announce that Season two of the ARA’s Retail Therapy podcast is launching next week. This season, we’re looking at small business. Small business is big business. 95% of our members are small to medium businesses – the backbone of the Australian economy – and we are proud to represent the interests of these businesses.
We’re kicking off Season two of the Retail Therapy podcast with this fantastic chat with Steve Plarre, CEO of Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, an award-winning family business with a proud history dating back over 110 years. Ferguson Plarre is an iconic business, famous for its cakes, pasties and pies and a great case study for small business success.
Did you know that about 38% of small businesses in Australia are owned by women?
In this episode of Retail Therapy ARA CEO Paul Zahra speaks with Amanda Rose, a powerful advocate for women in business. Amanda is the Founding Director of Western Sydney Women and Founder & CEO of Small Business Women Australia.
Paul Zahra sits down with The Hon Bruce Billson, Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman as he candidly talks about his career, how he’s championing the sector, the issues that motivate him to keep fuelling the engine room of the economy and some important mental health resources to support small and family businesses, an area extremely important to Bruce and his team.
In this episode Paul Zahra sits down with Kate Box, Director, Global Business Group, Retail ANZ at Meta. Kate has been with the social media giant for over 10 years, helping businesses to grow and expand their digital presence.
Phoebes Garland is a fashion and lifestyle brand business owner, mentor, entrepreneur and not-for-profit ambassador. To say her finger is on the pulse when it comes to the fashion industry is an understatement. With her 25 years of experience in sales publishing, advertising and fashion, she has an incredible childhood story that has influenced the way she does business today.
Dean’s childhood entailed his mum Mala dressing up as a clown on weekends, part of her home-based kids party business. Her risk taking and entrepreneurial outlook made for a fun childhood and now, Dean runs The Party People with his brother Peter. He candidly shares what it’s like to run a family business and what it took to launch an online presence in the late 90s at a time when many retail brands weren’t even online, let alone had a functioning website.
With over 4.7 million people, representing 41% of the total business workforce, SMBs are a big driver of Australia’s economic success – a fact Alexi Boyd is very familiar with given her 20+ years of experience working with small and family businesses. And now in her role as CEO at COSBOA – the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia – Alexi works tirelessly to advocate and support small businesses across Australia.
You’ll love this episode with Rowan Hodge, CEO of Andersens. His career has taken him around the world and if anyone gets what it takes to make a franchise a success, it’s him.
Meet Alla Buinowicz, Managing Director of the plus-size women’s fashion juggernaut Taking Shape. For 17 years, Alla has dedicated herself to creating amazing customer experiences.
Introducing small business advocate Lynda McAlary-Smith, Victorian Small Business Commissioner. Find out which superpower Lynda sees SMBs demonstrating, pre and post Covid, that now pulls them forward into a hopeful new future.
