The Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC) is an independent statutory authority in Western Australia and is funded by the WA Government to deliver and facilitate relevant, practical support to small businesses in Western Australia and advocate on their behalf. Their agency is led by the Small Business Commissioner who also holds the role of CEO, and reports to the Minister for Small Business. The agency is governed by a Board of Management comprised of seven members with experience in small business across WA, with the CEO as an ex-officio member.

The below is an overview of the various services the SBDC offers, with the majority of their services either free or offered at very low cost to make them highly accessible to Western Australian small business owners.

Business information and online content

Their website smallbusiness.wa.gov.au has a great deal of information on topics such as starting and growing a business, legal and risk areas, employing staff and more. A range of tools, templates and guides can also be downloaded, such as their popular business and marketing plan templates, cash flow forecast spreadsheet and many more.
Their Business Licence Finder helps businesses quickly identify the licences, permits and registrations they require for any industry and local government area in Western Australia, producing a comprehensive report from one source.
They also offer free access to commercial research insights from IBIS World and Business Benchmarking information. Access codes can be requested via their customer service team on website live chat.
Their blogs are particularly useful and cover a variety of topics ranging from current regulatory changes, financial management, risk, dispute resolution and much more.
The SBDC also publishes a fortnightly e-news which is a wrap up of their blogs and helps small business owners stay abreast of issues impacting small businesses. You can sign up to their e-news as well as a What’s On newsletter summarising upcoming workshops and events, from the home page of their website.
They manage a private Facebook group called “I’m a small business owner in Western Australia”. Members can connect and network online with peers – the group has more than 16,000 members.

Advisory and dispute resolution services

The SBDC offers access to a free business advisory service which is confidential, impartial, and experienced. Their business advisers can assist with matters related to starting a business or developing core capabilities for existing business operators and challenges business owners are having. The service can be accessed via Live Chat, telephone or through booked appointments (including online).
If appropriate, the business advisers can also refer to their specialised advisory areas, including commercial tenancy.
They offer a dispute resolution service which aims to help resolve disputes between a small business and another business or government organisation, via negotiation. A subsidised formal mediation service is also available for suitable cases that cannot be resolved through dispute resolution case management.
In regional Western Australia, they offer local advisory service though their SBDC Regional network, staffed by business advisers that are familiar with local conditions. They offer assistance on a wide range of matters from business planning to financial management and refer customers to SBDC specialist advisory areas such as dispute resolution as required.

Skill Development Workshops

The SBDC offers low cost enterprise skill development workshops aimed at assisting business operators and their staff to develop the necessary skills to be successful in business.
These workshops cover a variety of topics and are delivered online and in-person. Their online sessions are recorded and shared for up to seven days making it easy for people who cannot attend during the session to access the same great content.
SBDC Regional also delivers workshops tailored to the needs of local communities. Many of these are held in person in local areas and can also be found via their workshops page. Regional workshops are delivered for free.
From March 2026, the SBDC is offering the fully funded Climate Ready program to support WA small businesses to prepare for climate impacts. This program will be offered throughout Western Australia.