Of those surveyed, 9 per cent of these entrepreneurs started a business between March 2020 and January 2022, while almost twice as many (16 per cent) started trading in the past 12 months, highlighting sustained entrepreneurial activity among Australians since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data also shows new business entries increased 19.7 per cent in the 2022 financial year — significantly higher than average — reflecting workplace changes during COVID-19 and hobbies morphing into side hustles, as well as opportunities in sectors struggling with labour shortages.
The study, conducted in partnership with YouGov, looked at Australians’ attitudes towards opening a small business or “side hustle” and what payment methods are important to them. The research revealed almost nine in 10 (87 per cent) of those surveyed who have started a business since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic or plan to start one in the next 12 months regard the ability to accept payments on the go in their small business or side hustle as important — while four in five people have concerns about the speed of settlement and/or security of non-cash payments.
The findings coincide with the launch of a new CBA portable payments device, Smart Mini, to cater to the growing need for portable payment devices among small businesses that need to take payments on the go, such as tradies, gardeners and market stall operators.
CBA’s internal data underscores this demand, with 109,500 new business transaction accounts opened in 1H23 — equating to 4,200 a week. Some of the highest growth of new BTAs are in those sectors that are more likely to need a portable payment device, including those in gardening (19 per cent), plumbing (11 per cent) as well as painting (9 per cent). CBA also saw 16,100 new merchant facilities opened in 1H23 — a 31 per cent jump.
Commonwealth Bank’s group executive for business banking, Mike Vacy-Lyle, said the continued growth in new transaction account openings from small businesses shows an increasing number of Australians who are willing to open a small business, and this is also driving a growing need for mobile payments.
Commonwealth Bank’s general manager of merchant solutions, Karen Last, said Smart Mini is available to all merchants regardless of whether they are currently CBA customers.
