Over the past few years, the city has seen the effects of globalisation of the marketplace, said Dave Hughes, acting-CEO of Business Excellence Bendigo.

Local small businesses now have to think more creatively about how to engage their customers and compete in a bigger marketplace.

“People aren’t competing on a local level anymore, they’re competing on a global level,” he said.

Small and micro-businesses can be particularly affected by this, as a limited number of staff workers strive to do everything.

It’s these businesses that are a key driver of the city’s economy, and critical to keeping money moving around locally, Mr Hughes said.

“Small business... is the engine room of the Bendigo economy that keeps thing moving,” he said.

“Small business actually ends up being a really big employer.”

Communications and marketing consultant Tamara Marwood has decided to do something to help small business Bendigo.

Ms Marwood runs her own communications and marketing micro-business.

With other micro-business owners, she has decided to run a series of seminars to build networks for collaboration between people in creative industries and in business.

“Our vision is to help build a network, that can show the expertise of micro businesses, the opportunities that exist in co-working spaces, and make better interaction happen,” Ms Marwood said.

“Business can’t be done the same way, people need to be agile, they need to respond to problems quickly, they need to scale up quickly, but they need to do it in a way that’s lean, so there’s opportunities to resolve with low cost.”

Photographer Leah Ladson will be speaking at the event, alongside a client she has worked with. 

Ms Ladson wants to share from her own experience of beginning a small business.

“I feel like it’s something that Bendigo needs, when I started there wasn’t really anything like this around,” she said. 

“It’s just my way of giving back to small business.”

The sessions are aimed at developing networks within the small and micro-business community.

The first seminar will feature Lauren Clark, Director of Daido, photographer Leah Ladson and Erin Delahunty, a freelance journalist.