Council grants help local businesses thrive

Two small businesses in the CBD are scaling up thanks to City of Melbourne’s small business grants, joining a total of 31 winners set to share in $700,000 of council support to help them expand and thrive.

Kieroy, a jeweller specialising in handcrafting quality, timeless pieces plans to purchase 3D modelling software to expand its unique product offering, while also helping fit out its new shop in the CBD.

Meanwhile, at HoMie, where streetwear meets social enterprise – the label that already donates all its profits towards supporting young people affected by homelessness – aims to support this core mission by expanding its business.

An initiative of the City of Melbourne, the grants program supports the city’s diverse and creative economy, encourages local entrepreneurship and helps unique business grow while supporting local jobs.

For the past four years, Kieroy’s Kieran Jackson has been operating his jewellery business mostly solo, balancing crafting bespoke pieces unique to each customer. Originally working out of a shared artist space in Brunswick, his relocation into the CBD was his way of “levelling up the business.”

Now, as business booms, Keiran is investing in expensive software which will speed up production at every stage of the process.

“I’ll have more tools at my disposal, to create exciting and unique pieces. I’ll also be able to show clients what the final product will look like far more accurately, which will help get people considering purchasing across the line,” he said.

“It’s not something I would’ve bought for myself for a long time, but it’s really going to boost the business. It’s fantastic.”

Currently, Keiran only works by appointment. However, as business continues to flourish, he hopes to eventually transform his shopfront to a fully functional walk-in retail space.

“The next big stage is opening the space as retail, which will be very exciting.”

Meanwhile, Fitzroy-based streetwear label with a charitable core, HoMie, is also using the grant to scale up their business, opening a second store in The Emporium.

HoMie was founded in 2015 by Marcus Crook and Nick Pearce, who met on a charity bike ride around Cambodia. Returning to Melbourne, the two started talking to people sleeping rough around the city, and from these conversations, HoMie was born – a social enterprise business that donates 100 per cent of profits towards supporting homeless youth.

“Being a charity, we don’t have the reserves to take risks with the business because if something goes wrong, there are major implications for the programmes we run,” Jack Howes, who heads funding and research at HoMie, told CBD News, adding that without the council’s help, a new store would have been far more difficult to establish.

“The support from the City of Melbourne, it really does mean we are going to be able to establish this store that otherwise we probably wouldn’t have been able to,” he said.

The store itself is “going to be massive,” and be the base for a new employment program run by the business. Retail Ready, once implemented, hopes to give 48 young people steady employment, helping them find their feet as they struggle with hardship. •