5 Olympic-sized opportunities

Having recently done a bit of work with people from the City of London, I have suddenly, but probably not strangely, become aware of the next Olympics, set for July 2012 in London.

It’s also come to my attention that a number of Australian firms, that aren’t what you’d exactly call “sport” or “building” companies, have been picking up some good “games” business in areas as diverse as digital content and environmental consulting.

New opportunities always get me excited, so I thought I’d have a look around, and pass on what I found. At just over two years out, it appears that there are still a vast number of opportunities and a number of great resources Australian SMEs can access.

1. If you just want general information on the next Olympics you should go straight to the source at www.london2012.com.

2. If you are looking for a job with LOCOG, London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, have a look at locogrecruitment.london2012.com. There are a huge variety of jobs being recruited for; in areas as varied as medical, marketing, ICT, transport, event management, legal, security and more.

3. If you plan on attending the games as a tourist, but intend on doing some business while you are visiting, Austrade has some great resources focussed around their Business Club Australia which will provide many networking opportunities.

5. If you are interested in bidding for opportunities arising from the games (and there are still 35,000 or so contracts to be let) have a look at www.competefor.com which details every opportunity in the Olympic supply chain, plus a whole lot more. Australian companies are winning work and this free website allows you to be notified of any and all expressions of interest and tenders coming up in your desired area.

5. For those committed to doing business with the LOCOG, there are some great event opportunities coming up. I would specifically recommend the Connect to London program. Put on by Think London, this two day event will be a tour of all the facilities plus presentations and meetings with all the major players.

Definitely got me out of the armchair – I’m quite looking forward to the games now.

To read more Brendan Lewis blogs, click here.

Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded: Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club, Flinders Pacific and L2i Technology Advisory. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.