The Gold Coast’s enterprise advantage: What businesses need to do next

The Gold Coast is no longer just a story of growth but rather, one of scale, sophistication and opportunity. With more than $55 billion in GRP, around 83,000 businesses, and an economic complexity score of 1.01 (ranking second nationally behind Sydney), the city is building a broader and more capable economy than older perceptions suggest.

The real story is not how fast the Gold Coast is growing, but how its growth profile is evolving. The city’s priority sectors already contribute around $24 billion in Gross Added Value (GVA) and support about 145,000 full-time jobs, while businesses with 200+ employees have grown by 80 per cent since 2019/20. That signals a city moving from broad-based expansion to more deliberate scale.

For business owners, that creates a clear message: the Gold Coast rewards firms that are ready to partner, adapt and scale early. The businesses that move first are the ones most likely to capture talent, capital, customers and long-term value.

The Gold Coast is bigger than the old story

For many years, the Gold Coast was seen mainly through the lens of lifestyle, tourism and construction. Those strengths are still real, but they are no longer the whole picture. The city now has deeper capability across the knowledge economy, health and wellbeing, advanced manufacturing, education, screen and game production, tourism and global trade.

This matters because it changes what the city can support. It is not just a place where businesses grow larger, but where businesses can become more sophisticated, more export-oriented and more investable.

Enterprise gets access here

One of the Gold Coast’s biggest advantages is access. Businesses can move quickly from idea to action, with closer links to capital, research, customers, government and decision makers. The Invest Gold Coast report reinforces that access often replaces hierarchy. This makes the city commercially attractive for founders, scale-ups and ambitious private businesses.

For business owners, that means the right partners matter now. The Gold Coast is a city where the distance between an idea and a decision is often shorter than elsewhere. Businesses that have the right adviser mix around them can move faster, reduce friction and act on opportunities before competitors do.

The real opportunity is to scale, not just grow

The Gold Coast has more than 83,000 businesses, up 22 per cent since 2019/20, and yet fewer than 1 per cent of firms are at 200+ employees. In other words, the business base is broad, but the scale-up opportunity is still substantial.

That is a major commercial opportunity for business owners. The next wave of growth is likely to come from firms that can move from small to mid-sized, from mid-sized to larger employers, and from local to national or international competitors.

The strongest sectors are the ones to back now

The Gold Coast’s six priority sectors are already doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Together they contribute nearly $24 billion in GVA and are where the city’s next gains in productivity, exports and investment are most likely to come from.

The strongest signals are coming from:

• Knowledge economy
• Health and wellbeing
• Building future industries
• Screen and game production.

If your business sits anywhere near these sectors, the Gold Coast is now a place where the right advice can help you scale into something much bigger.

Export and global relevance matter more than ever

The Gold Coast’s export base is expanding, with total exports reaching $19.4 billion in 2024/25 and manufacturing exports exceeding $5 billion. Export growth is being driven mainly by manufacturing and education, which tells us the economy is becoming more globally connected and more diverse.

That creates a different kind of opportunity for Gold Coast businesses. Businesses that trade internationally, license intellectual property, attract offshore investment or sell into global markets need advisers who understand the commercial, tax, structuring and risk implications early, not after the problem shows up.

Investment is arriving, but it needs the right partners

The Gold Coast is not waiting for the future to arrive. It is already shaping it through major projects, precincts and industry-enabling infrastructure. The report points to more than $23 billion in major projects, record crane activity, and major precincts across health, manufacturing, culture, marine and city-shaping development.

But the real opportunity is not just what gets built. It is what the city becomes because of it. That is where business owners, investors and advisers come in. The businesses that engage early, bring the right partners in and think beyond compliance are the ones most likely to benefit from the next phase of growth.

The best time to get the right team around you is now

The Gold Coast report closes with a clear message: the platform is built, and the next phase depends on who chooses to build with it. It is an invitation to investors, businesses and partners who want to help shape what comes next.

For Gold Coast business owners, that should be a prompt to ask:

• Are we scaling in the right direction?
• Do we have the right advisers around us?
• Are our structures, tax, people and capital ready for what comes next?
• Are we partnering early enough to avoid fixing problems later?

The businesses that answer those questions early will be the ones best placed to turn the Gold Coast’s enterprise advantage into durable value.

How BDO can help

The Gold Coast is entering a new phase of enterprise growth, and the businesses that act early will be best placed to capture the opportunity. If you are looking to grow, scale, restructure or simply think more strategically about what comes next, contact us discuss how we can help.