Golden Age: Time for the Gold Coast to invest in their own local businesses, not interstate

A LOCAL business owner says more needs to be done for established Gold Coast firms — and less on luring others from interstate.

SMALL business is the engine room of the Gold Coast economy — more than 63,000 operators employing hundreds of thousands of staff. The growth of those companies is critical to the health of the Queensland and national landscape. The Gold Coast Bulletin asked traders from key sectors what they needed to ensure the pistons in that engine room pumped faster than ever before.

EDUCATION

Monique Jeremiah says she is seeing the benefit of investing in the education sector, and hopes government will too.

Ms Jeremiah set up her business eight years ago to fill an education void between high school, university graduation and employment. She has 10 part-time staff.

She said more needed to be done for established Gold Coast small businesses in the education sector, and less on luring firms from interstate.

Monique Jeremiah runs an education and tutoring business on the Gold Coast. Photo by Richard Gosling

“We specialise in writing graduate applications, applying for graduation programs, drafting resumes and helping people to ace essays,” she said.

“I think the Gold Coast City Council invests too much in attracting interstate business rather then investing in their own.

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“You look after your own people first. Really, the Gold Coast businesses here are at the same standard of those in capital cities and have the capacity to grow the industry further.

“I think work has gone steady and it will increase here on the Coast if we assist businesses surrounding the universities, which is where the growth is.”

More recently, the Griffith University alumnus says her business has grown to further accommodate the international market.

“Obviously, the Gold Coast is known as an international tourist hub, you have evolving universities and a lot of investment in marketing the Gold Coast in Asia,” she said.

With a focus on international students and older domestic students Monique Jeremiah’s business has grown to the point where her business can expand interstate. Photo by Richard Gosling

“So we are capitalising on that and are committing more to the international market, to help students understand education in their own language.

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“The international student market has gone up and down but is slowly steadying out, while a lot of our domestic students are mature aged and are beginning to settle here as well.”

Ms Jeremiah says she hopes to see her company expand nationally, while keeping its base on the Coast.