AFTER spending many years in small business, Hospitality Accessories owner Diane Miskelly believes she has some hands-on experience to bring to the Small Business Development Corpor-ation’s board.
Ms Miskelly was appointed to the board last month along with Curtin University Small Business Unit executive director Tim Atterton.
She said she always has been passionate about small business.
“I’ve been in quite a few and I’m very hands-on with my own business. Because of that I get to see a lot of different areas in small business that others don’t,” Ms Miskelly said.
“That’s the whole gamut, from bookkeeping to sales and marketing.
“Being involved with the hospitality industry I meet so many people in small business.
“They all have the same sort of problems but their plight doesn’t always seem to get through.”
She said a lack of management skills seemed to be the main problem facing small businesses.
“Some people will go into business without any idea of what they are doing. They don’t seem to plan enough. Getting help with management skills would help a lot of small businesses,” Ms Miskelly said.
She said her involvement with the SBDC had opened her eyes to the amount of help available to small businesses.
Ms Miskelly said her business had been started as a hobby, intended to run two days a week, and had grown significantly beyond expectations.
She said she hoped to be an effective board member and believed she had been appointed because she was from a different part of the small business community.
Small Business Minister Clive Brown’s spokeswoman said the Government was keen to utilise the skills of people it wouldn’t find through normal networks.
“I think Ms Miskelly is a classic example of that,” she said.
The Government is trying to find at least one if not two members from the small business sector to take part in its State Development Forum – a think tank made up of top business, community and academic represen-tatives.
There are at least four places left to fill on the forum.
