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Generations of resilience: IBA Business Forum in review

Generations of resilience: IBA Business Forum in review

Posted 09 November 2020

Keeping our sector strong

Keeping our Sector Strong: IBA Business Forum

‘Invigorate – Build – Maintain’: words that resonate with many of us at these times, and thus a particular poignant theme for 2020’s Indigenous Business Month. As we wrapped up the month’s focus, we carry on the theme as generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have for thousands of years.

On 12 October IBA held a virtual business forum with the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Hon Ken Wyatt AM, and inspiring business owners/leaders, Nicole Stewart and Katrina Fanning, to discuss how they have dealt with the current world.

Invigorate you!

The 2020 theme resonated with Nicole Stewart of Gerrbik Laundry Services. She noted, ‘Those three words mean EVERYTHING to me.’ As a business owner, she emphasised how she first had to invigorate herself after the huge impact that COVID had on her business. Then she could focus on building back.

Eighty per cent of Gerrbik’s business was with the airlines. Nicole had to diversify her business and manage as an entity based in Melbourne’s extended lockdown. Now she’s looking at new ways to service her customers and expand her base.

‘I had to invigorate me…So that I could maintain what business I did have and going forward what I need to build…It was hard and it’s going to be hard,’ said Nicole. ‘There’s a lot people out there that are scared to come back and process their life like they used to pre-COVID.’

Although the pandemic hit hard around the world, the resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is unprecedented. Words like ‘unprecedented’, while true, don’t help to invigorate your next steps so the forum’s discussion ventured further into how to manage past the crisis.

The panel was moderated by IBA CEO Rajiv Viswanathan. He noted the discussion comes at a really important time for the Australian economy as a whole but also particularly for the Indigenous business sector.

‘We’ve seen the sector really grow and thrive and we’ve seen business owners across the country demonstrate incredible resilience and ingenuity,’ said Rajiv as the discussion ranged from recognition of the difficulties of 2020 to the positive outlook of the future.

Change is imminent but how we manage that change is key. The panellists gave insight to the diversity of businesses out there and their ability to adapt with the times.

The Minister emphasised that resilience and highlighted a roadmap for the future which must include economic development, employment and education. He noted that we need to look at all the elements to see where the hooks are for Indigenous people to gain the skills to grow opportunities.

Keeping our Sector Strong: IBA Business Forum screenshot

‘When Australia opens up again, it’s going to be a different world,’ said the Minister. ‘So, one of the things we need to look at is where are the opportunities that are different than what we intended in the beginning?’

The Minister noted the challenge will be how do we sustain not only the Indigenous businesses that exist now but grow more. He wants to see Indigenous people directly profiting from Indigenous held land – not handing that over for someone else to run and profit. He noted prospects for global relationships as well as emissions trading schemes and carbon footprint opportunities.

‘We’ve got to seize opportunities, support people on country, and provide the knowledge and skills they will require, plus resources in some instances.’
‘Certainly, IBA will play a critical role in the way in which we partner collectively to build capability among our people,’ said the Minister.

What can IBA do?

Nicole was upfront about running her own business. She noted that when you have a business, you might not have a huge amount of money in the bank. When she found out about IBA’s Business Relief Package, it changed her mind set for her business going forward.

‘My connection with IBA has been a lifeline to me!’ said Nicole. ‘They believed in me which has given me a lot more belief in myself.’

Nicole received a loan/grant package as part of the relief package announced in April 2020. The package was a collaboration with NIAA to provide Indigenous businesses that were impacted by the pandemic (whether an IBA customer or not) with support.

‘That’s where then I could invigorate ME once I was accepted for the loan,’ said Nicole.

Katrina Fanning is the Founder and Director of Coolamon Advisors, an Indigenous partner delivering the Business Relief Package with IBA.

Having met with multiple businesses through the process, Katrina was impressed by how hard they are working and how responsive they’ve been to the support. She said, ‘The diversity of the businesses that we have around the country really surprised me…They are just getting on with whatever it takes to get things moving.’

Katrina is a business owner herself so learned firsthand about the hits of the pandemic. Overnight she lost 3 months of bookings. She talked about how she had to reach out and leverage on her partnerships, as well as have the patience to rethink her service offering.

‘I had to change really quickly and be prepared to look at areas we hadn’t traditional worked in,’ said Katrina. She added, ‘Stay focussed on what’s your core business. Not to spread yourself really thin across a number of ideas as you won’t be able to put all your timing into it.’

Coolamon Advisors were among the many businesses that transitioned to online versus face to face to deliver business assessments with customers for IBA over video or phone.

Youth & women

Our Indigenous youth and women are two groups heavily hit by COVID – both the Minister and Katrina commented about these sectors and harnessing the strength they hold.

The Minister talked about cadetships and internships to leverage the skills of our youth and get them employed and into pathways for real jobs. He also noted the importance of education in the process. Katrina has seen small businesses, particularly family businesses, hit by the pandemic bring young people into the company and find a new invigoration in innovating the way to work.

Futures Forum is an initiative of IBA that is helping to rewrite the future of business that includes culture. Rajiv talked about the initiative and importance young people have as our future leaders.

Katrina and Nicole are part of IBA’s Strong Women Strong Business network and emphasised how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander female business owners are not alone in this.

‘We have got incredible resilience where we’re perfect for growing businesses,’ said Nicole. ‘We just got to believe in ourselves.’

She acknowledges it’s not going to be easy, but the rewards outweigh the work.

‘To lay in bed in the night-time and know that you’ve given it your all to get to where you are. Fight the struggles that you might find along the way,’ said Nicole. ‘Chase your dream. Because we can make it happen. IBA will help you, we’ll all help you.’

Final words

Minister Wyatt – ‘I eventually want to see that when we give a contract for a grade separation on a major road that it’s a 100% Aboriginal owned business that wins that contract…On the pathway to having an Indigenous company in the top ASX listing which means that you stand with the top 100-200 companies in this country…We have to dream that way.’

Nicole Stewart (Gerrbik Laundry Services) – ‘Our sector is going to be huge! We’ve faced diversity for many years and won…. But I honestly feel that our sector will go through the roof.’

Katrina Fanning (Coolamon Advisors) – ‘The one I’m most hopeful for is to see a growth in the size and length of the contracts that our businesses start to see, whether it be from government or corporate…I’m looking for those tipping points to open the gates even more.’

Rajiv Viswanathan (IBA) – ‘It’s been a really challenging year but it’s also a year and a time to reimagine what’s possible. And I think you’ve seen from our panel that there’s a lot of passion and inspiration out there that we can really capture as we come out of this phase and come into the recovery process. All of us together want to see this sector continue to thrive.’

View full video recording below: