The 2026 Small Business Festival has wrapped up, with hundreds of Mornington Peninsula business owners and professionals taking part in workshops, webinars, networking opportunities and events throughout August.
The Festival featured 21 free and low-cost events covering topics including marketing, artificial intelligence, finance, human resources, energy and business growth, with content tailored to the needs of small business.
Participants consistently valued practical, immediately usable advice, engaging facilitators and opportunities to connect with other local businesses. One attendee described the Festival as “one of the best business initiatives I’ve seen the Shire undertake”, while others praised the sessions for providing “great content, informative and practical” advice and “great tips and ideas to get started”.
Post-event results showed a significant increase in business knowledge, with 92% of respondents rating their knowledge as good or excellent after attending, compared with 55% before the Festival.
The Small Business Festival kicked off with the fifth annual B.I.T.E. (Business, Innovation, Technology and Excellence) Conference at Mornington Racecourse on 5 August. The event attracted 275 attendees from a range of industries and featured keynote speaker Grant Hackett OAM, who shared insights on resilience, leadership and high performance.
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