MBF President Update May 2026
- May 11
- 4 min read
Hi Everyone,
Whilst looking for a topic for this months Report and Newsletter I came across this article by Angad Soin, and it really resonated with me. So, I thought that rather than try to rework it I would simply present it to you.
Australian small businesses started 2026 ahead of the game. The next 90 days will determine who stays there.
A year ago, most small business owners would have taken this version of 2026 without hesitation.
Sales growing at a two-year high. Jobs up. Wages rising. Australian businesses outperforming the US, UK, New Zealand, and Canada.
That's where we are today.
Xero's Small Business Insights data - drawn from over half a million Australian small businesses - shows sales grew 7.2% year-on-year in the March quarter. March alone came in at 10.9%. This isn't a one-off. The momentum that started building in the second half of 2025 held through back-to-back rate rises.
The businesses that are going to carry this momentum into the second half of 2026 are the ones who are using these strong numbers to make decisions - right now, while they still have room to move.
March brought a new variable. The conflict in the Middle East is pushing up fuel prices. Data shows transport and logistics sales jumped 13.2% year-on-year in March - the largest single-month movement of any sector, but most of that is prices, not volume.
Fuel prices don't stay in one sector, that cost will flow through the economy. It always does.
The question isn't whether small businesses will feel it. The real question: which ones are prepared for it.
Three moves worth making right now
1. Change the question
The question most business owners are sitting with right now is: will the macro pressure turn on me, and when?
Most of us would ask the same question. It's also not a strategy.
The more useful questions are: what can I influence in the next 90 days? And given where things are, am I focused on protecting what I've built, holding my position, or pushing for growth? Those are genuinely different approaches. Pick one deliberately, rather than letting your cash flow make the call for you.
2. Get specific about your exposure
Not every business is equally exposed to fuel and supply chain pressure. Two businesses in the same suburb can be in completely different positions right now - depending on who their suppliers are, how their customers pay, and what their next 60 days of cash look like.
Generic anxiety is the enemy of good decisions. The first move is to get specific: what are your biggest costs? Which of your suppliers are in fuel-exposed sectors? Which customers consistently pay late?
Your numbers already contain the answers. Most businesses just haven't had the time to look at them through that lens yet.
3. Use the strong quarter to shore up the basics
Australian small businesses are still waiting an average of 7 days past their payment terms to be paid. In a period of sales growth, it's easy to let that slide. Don't.
Businesses that offer online payments - card, digital wallets, Pay To, direct debit - get paid up to twice as fast. With Payday Super arriving in July and changing the rhythm of how cash leaves your business, how fast it comes in matters more.
The 90-day sprint
Don't try to solve everything. Commit to a few things you can move in the next 90 days - that's the best move right now.
Here's what I'd challenge any small business owner or advisor to do:
In the next seven days: Sit down with the last three to six months of actual numbers — not projections, not spreadsheets from 2023. What do they actually say about your cash flow rhythm today?
In the next 30 days: Run one scenario. A fuel-cost shock. A rate rise. Two months of late payments. Decide in advance what you'd do - before you're in the middle of it.
In the next 90 days: remove the thing that would hurt you most if conditions tightened. For most businesses, that's slow payments, time lost on admin or compliance - identify it and automate it.
Macro conditions are out of our control. The choices we make right now are not. The businesses that come out ahead won't be the ones that got lucky with the conditions - they'll be the ones who knew their no-regret moves before they needed them.
By Angad Soin
Managing Director, AU/NZ & Global Chief Strategy Officer | FinTech for Small Business & their Advisors | May 1st 2026
Now, let's put this into practice together!
Angad's article asks exactly the right questions. But reading the questions is only the start. What I really want is for us to sit down and actually work through the answers: for your business, with your real numbers, in the room with people who get it. So I've put together a workshop where we can do exactly that.
Thank you.
Alison Carroll
President
