National Family Business Day 2026: Celebrating the businesses that keep us moving

Chances are, you’ve already supported a family business today.

It might have been the café where you grabbed your morning coffee, the tradie who arrived to fix your plumbing, the butcher where you picked up your leg of lamb for dinner, or the news agency where you picked up your mum’s birthday card.

On Saturday, 19 September, National Family Business Day 2026 celebrates these businesses - large and small - and the contribution they make to communities and economies across Australia and New Zealand.

And there are a lot of them.

Around 70% of Australian businesses are family-owned, employing half the national workforce and generating an estimated $4.3 trillion in wealth. Across the Tasman, family businesses represent around 75% of New Zealand businesses, employ approximately 75% of the workforce and contribute around 65% of GDP.

The Businesses Behind the Numbers

Those figures are significant, but the real story is what sits behind them.

Family businesses are builders, manufacturers, retailers, farmers, landscapers, electricians, plumbers, professional services firms and countless other businesses that Aussies and Kiwis rely on every day.

They employ locally, buy from other family-owned businesses, take on apprentices, support sporting clubs and community groups, and create opportunities in the places where they operate.

At Kennards Hire, we see this first-hand.

Every day, our teams work alongside family businesses of every shape and size. Some have been operating for generations. Others are just getting started. Some employ hundreds of people; others might be one person, a Ute and a growing list of customers. They’re our customers, suppliers, partners and neighbours – and they’re an important part of the communities our branches call home.

Proudly family-owned since 1948

Kennards Hire is proud to share something in common with many of those businesses.

Our story started in Bathurst, NSW, in 1948, when Walter Kennard hired out a concrete mixer from his family’s small machinery business. More than 78 years later, Kennards Hire remains family-owned, now with more than 220 branches and over 2,200 team members across Australia and New Zealand.

A lot has changed since that first concrete mixer was hired out. What hasn’t changed is the importance placed on people, relationships and being part of the communities where we operate.

Family Businesses Supporting Family Businesses

National Family Business Day is a chance to celebrate being family-owned, but it’s also a reminder of the impact we can have by supporting other family businesses.

That might mean choosing a family-owned supplier, using a local trade business, recommending a great business to someone else or simply leaving a positive review after receiving good service.

For businesses, it can mean looking for opportunities to partner and collaborate with other family-owned organisations.

These might seem like small choices, but collectively they help support employment, investment and strong local communities.

So, this National Family Business Day, we’re giving a shout-out to the family businesses we work with every day - from those that have been handed down through generations to those building something they hope to hand on one day.

We’re proud to be one of them.

National Family Business Day is Saturday, 19 September 2026. Find out more about National Family Business Day and how you can support family-owned businesses through the Family Business Association.