Indigenous Business in Australia: Opportunities, Tensions and New Futures

Abstract

This chapter presents insights into the growing Indigenous business ecosystem in Australia built from four deep conversations with Indigenous business leaders Sean Gordon, Robynne Quiggin, Ian Trust and Leesa Watego. The question at the centre of these conversations was: How is Indigenous business in Australia generating economic independence and prosperity, fostering Aboriginal leadership, enabling cultural sharing, and enhancing self-determination? While business as a vehicle offers a modicum of independence and a space from which to share culture and create cultural value, business also requires Indigenous business leaders to make sense of past and present economic dependencies that frame their experience. Greater numbers of Indigenous Australians are establishing businesses and building the Indigenous economy, however, there is a suspicion and lack of trust that creates tension and ambivalence. What we collectively explore in this chapter is how Indigenous business leaders navigate opportunities, tensions, and work hard to produce new futures for their families, communities, and Indigenous Australia.