Engaging with First Nations businesses is about building relationships — it shouldn’t be viewed as purely transactional, those who attended an Ai Group webinar celebrating NAIDOC Week (July 7-14) heard last week.
Webinar panellists Deb Barwick, Chief Executive Officer, NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce (NSWICC), and Donisha Duff OAM, Chief Executive of the newly established Queensland Indigenous Business Network (QIBN), shared advice on how the broader business community can build and improve engagement with First Nations businesses.
The conversation, hosted by Ai Group’s Vivienne Filling, was an extension of our webinar on procurement with First Nations businesses held during National Reconciliation Week (May 27-June 3).
“The first step is to reach out to a member-based state, regional or local representative body to get an understanding of the Indigenous businesses available for you to connect with,” Ms Barwick said.
“Next, think about what your goal is. It shouldn’t be a box-ticking exercise. Be authentic and seek recommendations for businesses that are Indigenous-owned and operated because if that's the impact you're after, make that effort. Don't just rely on a database that may be out of date.
“Finally, be willing to go on a journey to share your needs.
“If we (member-based representative bodies) understand your business well, we're better able to help you. Be willing to have an open and transparent relationship with us so together we can grow the sector.
“If you're coming to us, you obviously want to make a difference, so take the time to build that relationship with our organisation so we can help you.”
It’s a mutually respectful process, Ms Duff added.
“We need to identify shared value and understand what you're trying to achieve,” she said.
“At the same time, we’re working with our businesses on the ground to ensure they gain shared value, too.”
Ms Duff is the inaugural Chief Executive of QIBN, an independent representative body established last year to provide a strong and unified voice for Queensland's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses.
“The goal is to support not only the growth of First Nations businesses across a range of sectors, but also their ability to scale and succeed in procurement,” Ms Duff said.
“In Queensland, the business sector has been talking about the need for a state representative body, and we've subsequently been successful in receiving initial seeding grant from the State Government.
“This is recognition that our businesses are dispersed across a vast geographical area that includes many islands and the need for connectivity if we're going to build, grow and sustain the First Nations business sector in Queensland.”
The Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2032 are among the motivating forces for the Queensland Government to fund QIBN, Ms Duff said.
“A significant amount of money is being set aside for First Nations procurement in the lead-up to the Games, with a priority for local buy,” she added.
In recognition of Queensland’s geographical challenges, QIBN is setting up business support hubs across the state that will enable government and industry to find and connect with Indigenous businesses regionally.
The hubs will also provide Indigenous businesses with a place to meet, network, hold trade shows and access support such as financial literacy, grant writing assistance, business coaching and mentoring.
“As a state representative body working with our hubs and businesses on the ground, we will be able to get a better understanding and visibility of the Indigenous businesses out there,” Ms Duff said.
QIBN will verify First Nations businesses seeking membership.
“We will verify credentials as part of our membership process and establish whether businesses are 50, 51 or 100 per cent Indigenous-owned,” Ms Duff said.
“We’ll also extract useful information such as female business ownership. All the information we're extracting through this membership process will be available on our soon-to-be-launched Indigenous Business Gateway digital database.
“That’s going to be our key flagship platform for government, industry and non-Indigenous businesses to access and find out information such as who are the Indigenous businesses in their area? What types of services are available? What sort of contracts have they previously had? What's their capacity? What’s their capability for delivering different types of contracts going forward?”
In contrast, NSWICC has a long history.
“We've been in this now for nearly two decades, so we have a really great knowledge and understanding of where our members are at, where they're going and what their aspirations are,” Ms Barwick said.
“That's valuable for companies looking to engage Indigenous businesses in a sustainable way.
“Equally, there is a need to support Indigenous businesses so they can tender in an equal playing field.”
Ms Barwick, who received the NSW Premier's Award for Excellence for her work in supporting the establishment and growth of Indigenous-owned businesses, said there had been significant advances in Indigenous business engagement over the past decade.
“A lot of that has been driven by the maturity of the Indigenous business sector itself and also the establishment and maturity of the Indigenous business chamber network,” she said.
“We're starting to have our own organisations that are independent to government but very much there to support and raise awareness of Indigenous businesses and their capabilities and capacities across industries.
“There have also been state and federal government procurement policies with requirements on government contract spend.
“Then there are Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs).
“Corporate Australia is really coming on that journey to open their supply chains and workforces to more of our people coming in.
“There's definitely a greater awareness, uptake and commitment to bringing Indigenous businesses into supply chains in a more inclusive way.”
“The NSWICC is not just a database,” Ms Barwick says.
“We work with Aboriginal people in a meaningful way to start and grow their businesses.
“All our 500-plus members in NSW are majority Aboriginal-owned and operated businesses. We work with them day in and day out.
“We're informed by our members on the ground and then we're able to inform government at the state level and then together, our organisations can inform at the national government level.
“We do a lot of capability and capacity work and run programs geared at encouraging them to be the most competitive business in their industry and marketplace and making sure there's a strong procurement knowledge and that businesses understand the needs of procurement.
“Along with our partnership programs and other chambers and representative organisations, we’re working equally as hard with buying organisations to ensure they have support to engage Indigenous businesses in a meaningful and sustainable way.”
NSWICC has a designated team to support procurement teams.
“We’ll set up a meeting and have a chat about where they're at with their journey and where they want to get to, and then we start a process of moving forward,” Ms Barwick said.
“If it's something they're going to market for and they want to know whether there are Indigenous businesses that have that capability, we provide them with a report of those businesses within 24 hours.
“We support buyers across every industry and government departments to ensure they’re able to remove barriers so they can engage our businesses sustainably.
“Quite often, we find ourselves doing some really complex work with them to reinvent their procurement processes — the way they put their tenders out etc — and sometimes it's a matter of just wanting to know how to get started.”
“We have businesses in pretty much every industry, providing all sorts of products and services,” Ms Barwick said.
“Our members work across 70 main spend categories and then you’ve got sub-categories under that.
“When we start working with a new partner, we do workshops with them to understand their thinking around what types of opportunities there could be with Indigenous businesses.
“Don't ever think Aboriginal businesses wouldn't be doing a certain thing.
“We have engineers and architects among the best in the world.
“There's amazing talent.”
While QIBN doesn’t have any members yet (a membership drive is underway), business experience in the network is diverse.
“Many are embracing new tech, so we've got some businesses that are undertaking amazing projects with AI, drones, rockets and the like,” Ms Duff said.
“It's pretty impressive.”
During the webinar, non-Indigenous businesses were encouraged to think carefully before requesting support from First Nations businesses for research and development (R&D).
“Our mob are keen to work with stakeholders conducting research and doing consultative pieces if it's going to result in something meaningful,” Ms Barwick said.
“What you've got to be mindful of is the drain on any business.
“If a business is taking time to contribute to R&D or any consultation, we encourage you to reimburse them for their time and share results.”
It’s an issue for Queensland’s First Nations businesses, too.
“Requests are often last minute and don’t match the research agenda of the Indigenous organisation,” Ms Duff said.
“If you're thinking about research and development in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business sector, have a conversation first and co-design questions that are mutually beneficial.
“Design a process that's going to add value to both. Think about the translational piece, as well. Once you've done the R&D, how are you going to share results with the business so they understand the shared value and knowledge that's captured?
“We'd be more than happy to work with you. When businesses are contacted individually, they find themselves doing consultations all over the place and it takes much time out of their business growth.”
NSWICC hosts a networking event every quarter to enable buying organisations to connect with member suppliers.
Its flagship event, The Summit, will be held during November 11-12 in the Hunter Valley and includes a trade show, networking event, conference forum and awards night.
“We’ve had amazing results where opportunities have started at that event,” Ms Barwick said.
“That’s when we know we're hitting the mark — when businesses are starting important conversations at your event.”
QIBN will host regional engagement opportunities to enable industry to connect with its members and an awards gala event next year.
For further support and to find out which First Nations business peak body to connect with in other states and territories, reach out to NSWICC or QIBN.
Wendy Larter is Communications Manager at the Australian Industry Group. She has more than 20 years’ experience as a reporter, features writer, contributor and sub-editor for newspapers and magazines including The Courier-Mail in Brisbane and Metro, the News of the World, The Times and Elle in the UK.
