Going for growth or keeping the status quo? SMEs reveal top priorities for 2025

Younger business owners are more likely to be planning to grow their businesses in 2025, while a higher number of older operators say their priority in 2025 is to maintain the status quo.

In research provided to SmartCompany exclusively by MYOB, 54% of gen Z business owners nominated growth as their key focus for next year, compared to 34% of gen Y business owners, 27% of gen X business owners, and 10% of baby boomers.

The gen Z cohort, which is made up of business owners aged between 18 and 29, were the least likely to be focused on maintaining the status quo (23%), while a majority of baby boomers (59%) said this will be their priority next year.

These results are somewhat unsurprising: it makes sense that founders who are at the start of their careers would be looking to grow businesses to sustain those careers, while older generations considering retirement may have different priorities.

However, MYOB CEO Paul Robson says the findings also reflect a level of confidence among younger business owners.  

“It’s exciting to see gen Z business owners are feeling confident and ambitious about their business growth for 2025, with more than half of respondents from that age group focusing on growing their business, much higher than gen Y, gen X and Baby Boomers,” Robson told SmartCompany on Wednesday.

“This confidence reflects their ability to be agile and responsive to the changing business environment, and to see new tech and a changing business landscape as an opportunity for growth.”  

“While there’s still pressure out there for small businesses as interest rates remain high and consumers remain cautious, the good news is that the next generation of business founders remain optimistic and resilient in the face of these challenges.”

The MYOB data also suggests a smaller percentage of gen Z business owners are preparing to wind down their business (9%) or ‘trying to keep the doors open’ (1%).

This compares to the 19% of Baby Boomers who are planning to wind down their business in 2025 and the 10% who are ‘trying to keep their doors open’.

A slightly higher percentage of gen Y business owners (13%) and gen X business owners (15%) said they too are focused on keeping the lights on next year.

The survey results are drawn from MYOB’s well-established Business Monitor, and include responses from approximately 630 SMEs, including non-employing businesses, micro-businesses, small businesses and medium-sized firms.

Across state lines, the proportion of SMEs looking to grow their businesses mostly ranged between 20-25%, with the exception of South Australia, where 35% of SMEs said growth was their key focus for 2025.

South Australia was also recently given the mantle of the best state to do business in by the Business Council of Australia. This ranking was based on the state’s performance in areas like payroll tax, licensing and permit requirements and its urban planning system.

Survey results varied greatly for businesses in the Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory, however, only 13 businesses from these states responded to the survey question.

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