HISTORY

Business Enterprise Centre Northside (BECN) was established by local businesses, the Chatswood Chamber of Commerce and the State Government to assist the growth and development of business in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney. Since it’s inception in 1991, BECN has been assisting people into employment and/or training opportunities through a range of labour market programmes, for both State and Federal Governments.

As well as running regular training programmes, seminars and workshops for both new and existing small business entrepreneurs, BECN provides a “One Stop” confidential Business Advisory Service  for Small Business.

BECN continually strives to ensure the goals of its business training are matched to the critical skill needs of small businesses operating in today’s highly competitive and often complex business environment.

In the early days BECN had a part-time employee without resources or budget working out of ‘borrowed’ one-room premises. In 2002 we relocated to modern facilities in the centre of Chatswood and now have 30 permanent and casual staff centrally, with Outreach offices in Hornsby, North Sydney, Ryde, Glebe, Ultimo, Parramatta, and Manly Vale.

Anne Paterson was appointed General Manager of BECN in 1995 and was instrumental in guiding BECN to financial viability initially via government contracts in Small Business Management, Front Line Management and Information Technology. In 2002 and again in 2006 BECN was awarded contracts to deliver Innovation Advisory Services on behalf of the State government, as well as the NSW Department of State and Regional Development contract (1993 to 2008) to provide support and advice to small businesses.

In 2004 BECN established specialised support for women looking at self-employment through small business, with the assistance of the NSW Department of State & Regional Development (SARD). We combine the use of mentors, who are experienced business people, practical training and networking events to support these emerging entrepreneurs.

Whilst BECN has been very successful with regard to government contracts, our services have expanded to include a number of commercial training programmes, the development and running of business seminars for small business operators covering, introduction to small business, marketing, bookkeeping, MYOB, management skills, and business planning. In 2006 a new computer training room was established at our Chatswood office to provide computing training to a wide variety of clients.