If you are a Biotech business thinking of expanding to Korea and attending BioKorea 2025, the NSW Going Global Export Program Health to Korea program may be for you.

Eligible businesses can jointly exhibit within the Australian National Pavilion at the BioKorea in May 2025 to participate or showcase their products.

What the NSW Going Global Export Program Health to Korea covers

Investment NSW will support the exhibition costs to be part of the NSW business showcase at BioKorea 2025, which includes

• Pre-event briefing and preparations 
• Promotion of NSW delegation to Korean biotech industry
• In-market support from Investment NSW in Seoul
• Ongoing, tailored one-to-one support following the conclusion of the program

Note this does not cover travel costs such as airfares and accommodation.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this program your business:

• Have headquarters in NSW with a valid ABN
• Have between 5 and 199 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees 
• Have your own staff on site for the trade show 
• Be export-capable and export-ready
• Have a product or service that is produced primarily in NSW and achieving sales already
• Have a website featuring the product or service
• Be prepared to adapt the product or service for the new market
• Be flexible regarding market-entry method
• Have resources to support marketing and development for a new market

How to Apply

Click here to learn more and apply for the NSW Going Global Export Program Health to Korea

Note applications close 31 January 2025.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

3 times in the past week someone has asked me about setting up a social enterprise to use their business model to reinvest all or part of their profits to address societal issues.

But there is no such legal term as “Social Enterprise” in Australia.   For example, you can’t go ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Corporation) or the ACNC (The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission) and say you want to set up a social enterprise.

As such, some people get confused and stuck on how to do this – so this blog is aimed to help you understand more about social enterprises.

What structure do you use to set up a social enterprise

From my perspective, those who are thinking about a social enterprise, the first and most important thing you need to determine before you start, is what sort of structure you want to operate under and how you want to fund the social outcomes you are trying to deliver.

You can be a “For Profit Social Enterprise”. 

These are enterprises that generate profit to make contributions or donations that support their social mission.  Thank You Water and Who Gives a Crap toilet paper are examples of this.  In this version you typically have shareholders who would be entitled to their share of the dividend and the assets of the social enterprise.   These businesses need to balance out returns to shareholders with contributions to their social mission.

You can be a “Not For Profit Social Enterprise”. 

These are enterprises use their assets for the stated purpose of the enterprise.  In this version you typically have members who are not entitled to any of the returns or assets of the social enterprise.  A Not For Profit Social Enterprise can be a charity and can apply for what is known as “deductible gift recipient”, which allows you to receive tax deductible gifts or donations.

Or you can have a hybrid organisation which has a combination of for profit and not for profit organisations.  In this way you can have a for profit business generating returns which helps partially fund your social purpose.  The balance of the funds can come from donations or philanthropic grants for example.

Factors influencing your structure

When thinking about your structure things to consider include:

• Where will your funding come from?

Donations and philanthropic funding can generally only be directed to not for profits.   For profit entities can seek equity investors to raise funds by issuing shares. Similarly, not for profits can also seek investors to raise funds through impact investment usually involving debt.

• Where do you want profits to go?

In a not for profit, profits are not distributed outside of the organisation – which means no dividends or distributions can be made to members, and all profits are directed to achieving the organisation’s mission.

In a for profit social enterprise, profits are normally partially distributed to investors and partially reinvested into the social purpose of the organisation.

• Does your organisation hope to access charitable and other tax concessions?

Charitable concessions are typically only available to not for profits registered as charities.  Deductible Gift Recipient status endorsement so that people can claim a tax deduction for donations made, is even more limited to not for profits.

Additional Resources

Thankfully some organisations understand the complexity round the term social enterprise and publish some handy free guides.  One such organisation is Justice Connect with their Not-for-profit Law program.  Click here to access their guides around setting up a social enterprise.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

If you are a biotech health business and thinking of expanding to the USA, the NSW Going Global Export Program Health to USA may be for you. 

The program runs from March to June 2025 and includes attendance at Bio International Convention (16-19 June 2025, Boston).

What the NSW Going Global Export Program – Health to USA covers

You get access to:

• Market intelligence briefings
• Business partnering and introductions
• Ongoing advice and follow up.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for the overall NSW Going Global Program your business:

• Have headquarters in NSW with a valid ABN
• Be export-capable and export-ready
• Have between 5 and 199 full-time equivalent employees
• The product or service is achieving sales already
• Have a website featuring the product or service
• Be prepared to adapt the product or service for the market
• Have a product or service that is produced primarily in NSW

Additional eligibility requirements for the Health to USA stream:

• Funding or revenue to support USA market expansion and commitment to establish business partnership/s in the USA in the next 12-18 months 
• A clear pathway to profitability or already a profitable business 
• identified potential customers and partners in the USA and/or already have some market traction 
• Clinically validated (if product is subject to trial) or will be in the next 12-18 months 

How to Apply

Click here to learn more and apply for the NSW Going Global Export Program – Health to USA

Note applications close 31 January 2025.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

If you an Food & Beverage business thinking of expanding to ASEAN and attending THAIFEX 2025, the NSW Going Global Export Program Food & Beverage to ASEAN program may be for you.

Eligible businesses can jointly exhibit with Investment NSW at the THAIFEX ASEAN in May 2025 to participate or showcase their products.

What the NSW Going Global Export Program Food & Beverage to ASEAN covers

Investment NSW will support the exhibition costs to be part of the NSW booth at THAIFEX 2025, which includes

• Pre-event briefing and preparations
• Dedicated pod within the dedicated Investment NSW stand to promote your offering, provide sampling and engage with interested parties
• Printed and digital promotion in Investment NSW’s Exhibitor Directory
• B2B matching opportunities following 1:1 discussion about your export goals with our trade mission leads

Note this does not cover travel costs such as airfares and accommodation.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this program your business:

• Have headquarters in NSW with a valid ABN
• Have your own staff on site for the trade show
• Be export-capable and export-ready
• Have a product or service that is produced primarily in NSW

How to Apply

Click here to learn more and apply for the NSW Going Global Export Program Food & Beverage to ASEAN

Note applications close 1 December 2024.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

If you an Food & Beverage business thinking of expanding to Japan the NSW Going Global Export Program Food & Beverage to Japan program may be for you.

Eligible businesses can jointly exhibit with Investment NSW at the FOODEX Japan in March 2025 to participate or showcase their products.

What the NSW Going Global Export Program Food & Beverage to Japan covers

Investment NSW will support the exhibition costs to be part of the NSW booth at FOODEX 2025, which includes

• Pre-event briefing and preparations 
• A 1m2 space within the dedicated Investment NSW stand to promote your offering, provide sampling and engage with interested parties
• Printed and digital promotion in Investment NSW’s Exhibitor Directory
• In-market support from Investment NSW’s Trade and Investment Director, Japan 
• Ongoing one-to-one support following the conclusion of the program
• Networking event and store visits

Note this does not cover travel costs such as airfares and accommodation.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this program your business:

• Have headquarters in NSW with a valid ABN
• Must produce and own the brand (no aggregators or traders accepted) 
• Be export-capable and export-ready
• Nominate a product/s that are Japan compatible
• Have a product or service that is produced primarily in NSW

Note you can only apply for one stream at a time.

How to Apply

Click here to learn more and apply for the NSW Going Global Export Program Food & Beverage to Japan

Note applications close 25 November 2024.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

The Tech Ready Women Female Founder Startup Program is a program to help NSW female founders to test and launch their idea in the market.

This program is comprised of online modules delivered over 8 weeks that are taught by experts who have “been there, done that” experience.  There is also weekly mentoring sessions and an online community where you are able to connect and chat with our mentors, industry experts and female founders, who are on their startup journey.

What the Tech Ready Women Female Founder Startup Program covers

Over the 8 weeks the program cover topics such as:

• Customer & Market Discovery
• Business & Financial Modelling
• Developing your MVP
• Tech & Product Management
• Prototyping & UX Design
• Startup Legals
• Pitch Preparation

Eligibility

This program is open to female permanent residents and Australian citizens based in NSW, who have an idea for a tech startup.  And you also do not have to have prior experience in order to apply. 

Cost of the Program

There are 50 part scholarships available reducing the program cost to $723 ex GST, as compared to the full program cost of $2,723 ex GST.

Learn More

Click here to learn more and register your interest for the next round of the Tech Ready Women Female Founder Startup Program

Note there is an online webinar about the program where you can ask questions on 21 November 2024

The key dates for the next round are:

Applications deadline: 5 PM AEDT on Monday, 9 December 2024

Applications outcome: between the 2nd and 3rd week of January 2025

Program starts: Monday, 3 February 2025

Program ends: Monday, 31 March 2025

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

If you are a business owner who has:

• retained overseas resources directly (that is not through another business);
• an overseas resource who would be considered an employee under the new rules; and,
• agreements with these resources are done via email to you when you are located in Australia;

are you aware your overseas resource may be considered an Australian employee and they may cost you more than your budgeted for.

Read on to learn why.

Recently, I posted about a Philipino worker who was able to lodge a claim for unfair dismissal under the FairWork Act (Case [2024] FWC 2669).

This once again raises the question as to whether people who reside overseas, who are retained by an Australian company, are in fact Australian based employees covered by the FairWork Act.

Obviously the first test is whether the person is an independent contractor or not.  If they are an independent contractor, then they are not an employee and irrespective of where they are located they are not covered by the FairWork Act and its minimum employment standards.  Check out the difference between and employee and independent contractor here.

But if they are not an independent contractor, they are considered an employee.  This now raises the question as to whether they are an “Australian-based” employee.  All employees are deemed to be “Australian-based” employee unless the employee is to perform duties outside Australia; and, is engaged outside Australia.

Where the work is performed is usually a simple test and easily met.

But what about “engaged outside Australia”?

This was considered in another FairWork case [2023] FWC 2543.  This case considered a US citizen who has never been to Australia, working in Argentina who signed a contract direct with an Australian company.  That signed contract was emailed back to HO in Sydney.

The key question was when was the person engaged.  Were they engaged when they signed the contract (outside Australia), or when the company received the signed contract (in Australia).

And in this regard they looked at the Electronic Transactions Act (1999) (Cth) which states that when a contract is concluded by an electronic communication, such as an email, it is finalised at the place of business of the recipient of the email.  And they looked at another case Winter v GHD Services Pty Ltd [2019] FCCA 775  where it was determined that acceptance of a contract occurs when the acceptance is communicated to the offeror.

So based on these factors, the contract was considered accepted when the email was received by the business in Australia. Thus, the place of engagement was Australia, making the person an “Australian-based” employee.  And more importantly, this person is now covered by the minimum employment standards of the FairWork Act.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

Today, I want to talk about the issue of employees vs independent contractors and the importance of understanding difference between.

Under Australian law, if you are an incorporated business (for example a Pty Ltd business) any person who is deemed to be an employee is covered by the FairWork Act.

What this means, is that the person who is considered an employee has rights such as minimum rates of pay, selected leave and superannuation entitlements and even unfair dismissal protection.

If the person is not an employee, then these rights don’t apply.

So as a business owner, you need to understand what rights apply to the resources you deploy in your business.  If for example, you treat someone as a contractor and they are subsequently deemed to be an employee, you could be up for a lot of back pay and even worse case scenario be convicted of Wage Theft.

Therefore, it is important that you understand the difference.

And whilst there has been various case law that considered this matter, most of this has been overturned by the Closing the Loopholes No 2 legislation that came into effect on 26 August 2024.

This legislation introduced a new test for determining whether the person you are engaging is an employee captured under the FairWork Act or a contractor who can operate outside the FairWork Act.

It is a 2-step process.

Firstly, a person can elect to opt out the new rules.  But this can only be done if the individual worker’s earnings exceed the ‘contractor high income threshold’. For the 2024 – 25 year this is set at $175,000.  An independent contractor is able to revoke the opt out notice at any time, should they wish to do so.

If the person does not elect, (either they don’t want to do or are below the contractor high income threshold), then they are tested on the ‘real substance, practical reality and true nature of the relationship’ between the person engaged and the business.

You can no longer rely on the words of any agreement.  You (and FairWork and the Courts if necessary) must consider:

1. the totality of the relationship between the individual and the person; and
2. in considering the totality of the relationship, regard must be had to not only the terms of the contract governing the relationship but also to other factors relating to the totality of the relationship, including (but not limited to) how the contract is performed in practice.

In practical terms, focus now moves to how the work done by the individual is actually performed and based on what has been considered by FairWork and the Courts.

Factors to consider include:

1. The Amount of Control Over Work: The higher the control the more likely employee than operating independently.
2. Mode of Remuneration: If the person is paid on a set number of hours at an hourly rate is consistent with employment rather than independent contracting.
3. (In)ability to Delegate Work: Can the person delegate work or do they have to do the work themselves.
4. Who provides the Equipment: More provided by the business is more indicative of an employment relationship.
5. Nature of Work: For example, was the work of a professional, trade, or distinct calling that would typically characterize an independent contractor.
6. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Are these daily task orientated or outcome based.
7. Contractual Terms: Make sure you don’t have the word employee in the agreement if they are supposed to be a contractor.
8. Lack of Business Independence: Is the person delivering the work operating their own business.

In summary, if you don’t want the risk that someone who think as a contractor is subsequently deemed to be an employee, you need to go and have a look at your arrangements with any “independent contractors”

And don’t for get to consider contractors not located in Australia as this case here shows that even people not located in Australia could be an employee and covered under the FairWork Act.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

Tennis Australia in conjunction with the Australian Open runs the startup program AO Startups.  It is targeted to solving large problems in sport, health and entertainment to build, test or pilot on the world stage with Tennis Australia and the Australian Open.

And applications for this years intake are now open.  Focus is on:

• The Quantified Human – Technology with a focus on health, wellness and the quantified athlete
• The Event Experience – Technology powered by AI that drives automation in stadia, media, fan engagement and event management
• The Padel Experience – Opportunities focused on growing the commercialisation of the sport of Padel
• The Wildcard – If you are building product or experiences outside our three core streams, yet will revolutionise sport, entertainment, health or sustainability, then apply as a Wildcard

Benefits

The benefits of the AO Startups program include:

• Gain critical exposure and learning through piloting and proof of concept of your technology at the AO or other Tennis Australia channels
• Build brand credibility through official designation as an “AO Startup”
• Get access to specific Tennis Australia executives, VC’s and industry leaders to accelerate your journey to sustained success
• Achieve product-market fit through advice and testing across all areas of our sport and events
• Possible investment via Wildcard Ventures.

Learn More

Click here to learn about AO Startups program

Note applications close 8 November 2024

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052

If your business is looking to export food and beverage, consumer health and agri-food products to Greater China, then the NSW Going Global Export Program Food, Beverage, Consumer Health to Greater China program may be for you.

The program runs from March to May 2025 and attendance at a specialised business-matching / showcase event in mainland China and Hong Kong in May 2025.

What the NSW Going Global Export Program – Food, Beverage, Consumer Health to Greater China covers

You get access to:

• Market intelligence briefings and cultural training.
• Potential partner search and introductions.
• In-market assistance, ongoing advice and follow up.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for the overall NSW Going Global Program your business:

• Have headquarters in NSW with a valid ABN
• Be export-capable and export-ready
• Have between 5 and 199 full-time equivalent employees
• The product or service is achieving sales already
• Have a website featuring the product or service
• Be prepared to adapt the product or service for the market
• Have a product or service that is produced primarily in NSW

Additional eligibility requirements for this program:

• As this is a market-entry program, exporters should generally not already be earning more than $250,000 (AUD) from the China market in the last financial year
• Applicant businesses should be China export-ready with GACC registrations or other as required; and meet regulatory requirements for Hong Kong and/or China
• Applicant businesses should have resource and supply capacity to supply export orders.

Businesses not eligible for this stream

• Aggregators, traders, or businesses who sell services to exporters

How to Apply

Click here to learn more and apply for the NSW Going Global Export Program – Food, Beverage, Consumer Health to Greater China

Note applications close 17 November 2024.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

Click on the below buttons to access free Resources developed by Wayne Wanders, A Real CFO to help your business scale and grow profitably

Want a confidential discussion on your business situation, help with your grant application or to learn more about my Outsourced CFO Services, simply email me at wayne@aRealCFO.com.au or call me on 0412 227 052