A. These terms and conditions (Terms and Conditions) apply to the Lord Mayor’s Women in Business Grant 2023. 

B. The Lord Mayor’s Women in Business Grant 2023 is an initiative of Brisbane City Council ABN 72 002 765 795 (Council), whose principal offices are at 266 George Street Brisbane 4000, acting through its wholly owned subsidiary, Brisbane Economic Development Agency Pty Ltd ABN 86 094 633 262 (BEDA). 

C. By applying for a Grant Amount, the Applicant agrees to these Terms and Conditions. 

1. The Grant

1.1 The Grant provides an opportunity for eligible Applicants to apply for funding of up to $5,000 (exclusive of GST) to build their business capability or gain professional services that will boost local economic impact. A total fund of $250,000 is available for this Grant. 

1.2 In addition to the funding available through the Grant, successful Applicants will become part of the Brisbane Business Hub community and be provided with networking, education and training upskill opportunities. 

1.3 BEDA may, in its absolute discretion, make decisions in relation to the eligibility or otherwise of any Applicant, including whether there are any actual or perceived conflicts of interest. All such decisions will be final. 

2. Grant Recipient Obligations 

2.1 A Grant Recipient must: 

(A) actively participate in the 12-month business support program developed by BEDA for Grant Recipients

(B) participate in Grant-related surveys sent to Grant Recipients periodically;  

(C) allocate Grant funding upon receiving a Grant Amount in accordance with the Grant Recipient’s Use of Funds; 

(D) expend the Grant Amount before 30 June 2024 with the professional services, training, education or business equipment completed or received (as applicable) before February 2025; and 

(E) provide original quotes for the Use of Funds. Supplier invoices can include GST. More than one invoice can be supplied, however, the total of all invoices must be equal to or less than $5,000 (exclusive of GST). All purchases/supply must proceed after the Grant Amount is received, with the funding to be expended by 30 June 2024. 

2.2 A Grant Recipient is required to sign a separate funding agreement before receiving a Grant Amount. The funding agreement confirms the allocated funding, including any special conditions that may be applicable to the funding. 

3. Eligibility Criteria 

3.1 To be eligible to apply for a Grant Amount: 

(A) the Applicant must:

(I) be an Australian resident or citizen;  

(II) at the time of application, be over 18 years of age;  

(III) be a woman in business with a minimum 50% ownership of the Business;  

(IV) not be an employee of the Council or BEDA; and 

(V) not be a previous recipient of the Grant; and 

(B) the Business must: 

(I) have an active ABN; 

(II) be registered as a business in Queensland; 

(III) have been trading for the full financial year of 2022/2023 and the Applicant must be able to demonstrate more than one client or customer; 

(IV) have a registered office and place of business located in Brisbane at the time of application; 

(V) not be a department, statutory body, agency or instrumentality of government, including a Government Owned Corporation pursuant to the Government Owned Corporations Act 1993 (Qld), or a company wholly owned by the State of Queensland under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth); 

(VI) where it is a company, not be a subsidiary company of the Council; 

(VII) where it is a not-for-profit organisation, be registered as:  

(VIII) not be insolvent or have owners, directors, or members that are an undischarged bankrupt;  

(IX) be financially stable, and the Applicant must be able to demonstrate capacity to manage the Grant Amount effectively; 

(X) be compliant with all applicable laws; and 

(XI) have an annual turnover between $75,000 and $500,000. 

3.2 An Applicant must meet all of the criteria on the Grant application form 

3.3 An Applicant may submit only one application per Business for up to $5,000 (exclusive of GST). 

4. Grant funding 

4.1 This clause 4 outlines how the Grant Amount must be used or allocated by a Grant Recipient. 

4.2 Grant funding is solely for the procurement of professional services, training and education, and/or operationally critical business equipment, for the Business.  Grant funding must only be used for procurement from local Brisbane/Queensland businesses.  

4.3 Where applicable, in accordance with Council’s buy local position in its Procurement Policy and Plan, contractors and/or suppliers within the Brisbane LGA must be utilised. 

4.4 Examples of what can be funded are as follows: 

(A) Procurement of professional services: 

(I) Development of business strategy. 

(II) Marketing and brand services. 

(III) E-commerce services. 

(IV) Financial services. 

(V) Compliance with industry regulations relevant to the business. 

(B) Training and education: 

(I) Certification with a Registered Training Organisation or Technical and Further Education. 

(II) Professional development on leadership, business strategy, financial literacy. 

(III) Digital marketing. 

(IV) Expert training relevant to your business. 

(V) Cost of running or attending a convention, expo or business learning events. 

(C) Business equipment: 

(I) Equipment that demonstrate tangible growth for your business. 

(II) Tool or product that is key in delivering your business outcomes, for example, sewing machine for a fashion business, labelling machine for a packaging business or a business that posts products, camera for photography business. 

4.5 The following items do not form part of the Grant and therefore will not be funded: 

(A) Activities deemed business as usual. 

(B) General business operating costs (e.g., bookkeeping/accounting, tax returns). 

(C) Payments relating to real estate/property including, for example, hire costs, lease, or rent fees. 

(D) Payments for services or fees from related parties (includes companies with common shareholdings, directors, employees or immediate family). 

(E) Travel. 

(F) Franchise fees. 

(G) Purchase of stock. 

(H) Payment of GST or costs associated with registering the business for GST. 

(I) Maintenance of existing digital technologies. 

(J) Purchase of computer hardware (e.g., computer servers, PCs, tablets/iPad, mobile phones). 

(K) Products and/or services purchased via direct selling (e.g., by party plan or network marketing). 

(L) Fees including delivery fees, credit card fees, transaction fees, membership fees and joining fees. 

(M) General office expenses (e.g., printers, phones, computers). 

(N) Salary and wage costs. 

(O) Website hosting. 

5 Supporting documents 

5.1 An Applicant must provide the following necessary evidence to support their application: 

(A) four consecutive business activity statements or audited balance sheets for the Business, with the last being 30 June 2023; 

(B) a copy of a valid ABN of the Business; 

(C) a copy of a Council rate account for the Business, issued within the six months prior to submission of the application; 

(D) a copy of their driver’s licence or passport; 

(E) if the Business is a company, an Australian Securities and Investments Commission company record showing company members and number of shares held; 

(F) if the Business is an incorporated association, the operating rules (sometimes called the constitution) of the Business and an extract of information/register of members detailing membership, classes of members and committee history;  

(G) if the Business is a trust, a copy of the trust instrument; 

(H) original quotes for the purchase/supply/engagement of the professional services, training, education, or business equipment from local Brisbane businesses in accordance with the Applicant’s proposed Use of Funds; 

(I) a copy of their Business logo; 

(J) if subsequently required, a letter from an independent accountant (external to the Business) stating that the Business is solvent, which will be reviewed by BEDA’s accountant to ensure that the Applicant is financially stable; and 

5.2 An Applicant may also provide the following evidence in support of their application: 

(A) video, images, assets to support their application, including any items supporting the Applicant’s eligibility; and 

(B) a business plan for the Business. 

5.3 An Applicant must not attach any further written material as this will not be considered by the judging panel. The written component must be documented by the Applicant in the relevant section of the application form only.   

5.4 The documents referred to in clause 5.1 must be uploaded at the time of application (except where the document is only subsequently required).  If the documents are not uploaded, the application will automatically default as ineligible. 

5.5 Documents must be uploaded in the following formats: 

(A) files – JPEG or PDF and less than 5MB. Compressed files cannot be accepted; 

(B) video attachments – URL linked to a video site such as YouTube or Vimeo; and 

(C) Website URLs must be publicly accessible or an active URL,  

and an Applicant must ensure that any applicable usernames and passwords are provided and active. 

6. How to Apply 

6.1 To apply for a Grant Amount, an Applicant must:  

(A) first create a profile via the application portal located at https://brisbane.grantplatform.com before completing all the relevant fields and then making a submission online; or 

(B) submit an Application form available to the Applicant on the Women in Business Grant website at womeninbusinessgrant.com.au. 

6.2 Applications for the Grant will open at 9:00am on Monday, 9 October 2023 and close at 4:00pm AEST on Monday, 6 November 2023. 

6.3 BEDA may, in its sole discretion, determine whether an application has been received within the time period set out in clause 6.2 above. 

7 Assessment of Applications 

7.1 Eligible applications will be assessed against demonstrated evidence of how the Business will grow revenue, profit, create jobs, and be sustainable because of the Grant Amount provided. The application form will outline key questions to provide this evidence. 

7.2 BEDA will appoint a judging panel with the appropriate business knowledge and expertise. This expert panel will review and make recommendations on funding allocation to Grant Recipients. 

7.3 In some instances, successful Applicants may not receive the full amount of the funding requested in their application form. If the proposal cannot proceed without the full amount of funding requested, this should be clearly stated by the Applicant in the application. 

7.4 The judging panel may, in its sole discretion, request further information from the Applicant at any time as part of the assessment process. 

7.5 The judging panel’s decision is final, and no further correspondence is provided to the Applicant beyond the outcome of their decision. 

8. Notification of the outcome of an application 

8.1 In February 2024, each Applicant will receive an email advising the outcome of their application.  

8.2 A formal announcement of the Grant Recipients will be made publicly by Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner. 

9 Privacy 

9.1 Each party must handle any Personal Information received from or on behalf of another party under these Terms and Conditions in accordance with its obligations under applicable privacy laws.  

9.2 By submitting an application, the Applicant consents to BEDA and the Council using their Business name and/or any Personal Information provided as part of their application for the purposes of (a) administering the Grant; and (b) media, marketing and promotional material (but excluding financial data and Personal Information of employees other than the Applicant, which will remain confidential) in the context of promotion of the Grant, should their application be successful. This includes, but is not limited to, publicly announcing the names of any Business that is successful in obtaining a Grant Amount. 

10 Confidentiality 

10.1 Each party must: 

(A) keep the other party’s Confidential Information secret and confidential;  

(B) only access, use, disclose or reproduce the other party’s Confidential Information for the purpose of this Agreement or otherwise as permitted under any other provision of this Agreement; and  

(C) take all steps reasonably necessary to safeguard the other party’s Confidential Information from unauthorised access, use or disclosure.  

11 GST 

If the Business is GST registered, 10% GST will be added to the Grant Amount as an itemised GST gross-up. 

12 General 

12.1 The Council and BEDA reserve the right to modify these Terms and Conditions at any time and to cancel or amend the Grant at any time without notice or further recourse to Applicants. 

12.2 The laws of Queensland govern these Terms and Conditions. 

12.3 Each party irrevocably submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland and courts competent to hear appeals from those courts. 

12.4 To the extent permitted by law, any statement, representation or promise made in any negotiation or discussion, is withdrawn and has no effect except to the extent expressly set out or incorporated by reference in these Terms and Conditions. 

12.5 A clause or part of a clause of these Terms and Conditions that is illegal or unenforceable may be severed from these Terms and Conditions and the remaining clauses or parts of the clause of these Terms and Conditions continue in force. 

13 Definitions and interpretations 

13.1 In these Terms and Conditions: 

(A) ABN means Australian Business Number; 

(B) Applicant means an individual applying for a Grant Amount; 

(C) Brisbane means the City of Brisbane as defined under section 7 of the City of Brisbane Act 2010; 

(D) Brisbane Business Hub means a Brisbane Economic Development Agency business support program through which the grant is managed; 

(E) Business means the Applicant’s business;  

(F) Confidential Information of a party means the terms of these Terms and Conditions and any information: 

(I) about the business and affairs of that party; 

(II) about the customers, clients, personnel or other persons doing business with that party; 

(III) which is by its nature confidential; 

(IV) which is designated as confidential by that party; or 

(V) which the other party knows or ought to know, is confidential, 

and all trade secrets, knowhow, financial information and other commercially valuable information of that party, but does not include information or material which: 

(VI) is or becomes generally known to the public other than through a breach of these Terms and Conditions; 

(VII) at the time it was first disclosed to a party, was already in that party’s lawful possession; 

(VIII) is developed independently by a party; or 

(IX) is disclosed to a party by a third party entitled to disclose it; 

(G) Eligibility Criteria or Criteria means the specific requirements and conditions that an Applicant must meet to be considered eligible for a Grant Amount, as outlined in clause 3 of these Terms and Conditions; 

(H) Grant means the Lord Mayor’s Women in Business Grant; 

(I) Grant Amount means the amount of the Grant applied for by an Applicant or awarded to a Grant Recipient (as applicable); 

(J) Grant Recipient means a successful Applicant; 

(K) GST means a goods and services tax, or a similar value added tax, levied or imposed under the GST Act; 

(L) GST Act means A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth); 

(M) Local Buy Policy means Council’s buy local position in its Procurement Policy and Plan; 

(N) Personal Information has the meaning given in the Information Privacy Act 2009 (Qld); and 

(O) Use of Funds means the intended purpose for which the grant funds are allocated, as described in the Applicant’s Grant application for the Grant Amount. 

13.2 Interpretation 

In these Terms and Conditions: 

(A) the meaning of any general language is not restricted by any accompanying example, and the words ‘includes’, ‘including’, ‘such as’ or ‘for example’ (or similar phrases) do not limit what else might be included; 

(B) a reference to these Terms and Conditions includes the agreement recorded by these Terms and Conditions; 

(C) no rule of construction applies in the interpretation of these Terms and Conditions to the disadvantage of the party preparing the document on the basis that it put forward these Terms and Conditions or any part of it; and 

(D) a reference to a party is a reference to the Applicant, BEDA, or the Council, and a reference to the parties is a reference to the Applicant, BEDA, and the Council together.