MOREE Plains Shire Council has announced the successful recipients of the Small Business Fund initiative for the 2024-25 financial year, with $20,000 awarded to support four projects.

Council received eight applications from diverse industries, with four Moree small businesses each receiving $5000. Recipients include DeliciousNESS to incorporate a hole in the wall serving counter to expand a home bakery, Moree Online News for server upgrades and marketing, 61 Balo to purchase equipment for quarterly markets and events, and Polished Nail Spa for shop relocation signage.

Bill and Cindy Poulos’ Moree Online News was one of four successful recipients under the Moree Plains Shire Council Small Business Fund initiative.

Moree Plains Shire mayor Susannah Pearse said the Small Business Fund aims to encourage and financially support positive economic activity that will contribute to the growth and progress of Moree Plains Shire.

“It’s fantastic to see the great ideas, innovation and can-do attitude of our local businesses that submitted applications,” Cr Pearse said.

The Small Business Fund is designed to help support and stimulate eligible small businesses with a one-off grant of up to $5000.

The funds can be used for a variety of business development purposes.

Moree Online News’ Cindy Poulos thanked council.

“This is a great initiative, and helped us enormously when we realised we’d need a much bigger server to handle the traffic we were getting,” Mrs Poulos said.

“Needing a bigger server was good problem to have, and the grant from council really helped with the unexpected costs.”

Council thanks all businesses who applied for the program and encourages small businesses with an idea to bring something new to the Moree plains community or a desire to boost their current services to apply in the 2025-26 financial year.

Council will advertise when the next round of funding is available.

Businesses interested in being notified about future rounds of the Small Business Fund, can subscribe the Moree Plains Shire Council Business Burst HERE.

For further information on the program, contact Council’s Economic Development Team on (02) 6757 3222.