How entrepreneurism drives empowerment.
We are living in a time of enormous opportunity when it comes to the state of work and employment. COVID has transformed the office and shown employers first-hand the potential of remote working, Zoom fatigue aside. Long gone are the days of literally punching in and out – we’re in the digital age, the era of the gig economy, niche specialisations and flexible conditions.
At least, this is the case in our mainstream, urban environments. The state of work in remote Indigenous communities is vastly different.
In a remote Indigenous community in Northern Australia, job options read like a 1950s roll-call, limited to those like teacher, retail worker, doctor, police officer. And they’re often not available to local people. In fact, in remote communities, 85% of non-Indigenous people living there are employed vs just 35% of Indigenous people (Closing the Gap, 2020).
According to the ABS (Census of Population and Housing 2011 and 2016), 58.8% of people in East Arnhem have no qualifications, yet the region also ranks poorly for access to unskilled work. This gaping void partly explains why remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 13 times less likely to be employed than the average Australian.
There is no quick-fix solution to a 200-year-old problem. But we do know one thing that works: entrepreneurism. We believe it is the most powerful tool to transform remote communities.
“My community has lots of fighting. Everyone is waiting around for royalty money. But I want to work for my money.”
In January I wrote about how, in the Indigenous business sector, it is too common for support and strategies to be driven by top-down thinking and imposed solutions. The outcome of this outdated model is purposeful and systemic disempowerment. Entrepreneurism is the antidote, and the most empowering employment journey there is.
Entrepreneurship shifts power.
Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are disempowered in a multitude of ways. The regions we work in are in the lowest 3% for socio-economic disadvantage compared to the rest of Australia (ABS). Remote housing tends to be owned by the government or companies, and there is almost no choice on where to live. Liandra Gaykamaŋu, our own co-CEO who hails from Milingimbi in East Arnhem, made the extraordinarily difficult decision to leave her community when she took on this role with ELP because there was no housing available to her if she wasn’t employed by the Department of Education. As we mentioned above, jobs are limited and not always reflective of the talents and interests of community members.
By its very nature, entrepreneurism shifts power as it offers a ‘choose your own adventure’ job pathway. There is no hierarchical knowledge learning system, it doesn’t require a university degree or professional qualification, and it creates a mix of entry-level and highly skilled jobs – perfect for a community setting.
Non-Indigenous businesses tend to have set expectations and rigid frameworks around things like standard working hours and leave. Remote community enterprises allow entrepreneurs to create a framework that is best suited to their own unique family and cultural needs and those of their team.
Through enterprise, a dreamer becomes a leader.
Creating, building and running a business is essentially a masterclass in self-awareness and personal transformation – it’s a constant reminder of what you don’t know, but also how you can learn and innovate. You’re given repeat opportunities to try and (crucially) to fail, an invaluable process that expands confidence and long-term resilience.
In a remote community setting, by building a business an entrepreneur often creates an entirely new sector of employment and opportunity, driving long-term societal transformation. And they become an inspiring and powerfully visible leader for others.
I saw this first-hand as CEO of Pollinate Group, which exists to empower women entrepreneurs from marginalised communities throughout India and Nepal. One woman still stands out for me today: Chayya Devkota lives in the remote village of Kailali, Western Nepal. Chayya had been supported to start a solar light enterprise servicing her community. Chayya’s business grew, as did her leadership, and she eventually ran for and won the seat of Deputy Mayor with her community backing her. Not only is she now influencing policy to transform her community, she also inspired others in her family to launch their own businesses and handed her business over to her niece.
The cycle of change begins.
Remote entrepreneurs are natural social impact leaders
In the Western capitalist business structure, businesses are often centred around the singular and personal vision and goals of the entrepreneur founder, with terms like ‘it’s not personal, it’s business’ and ‘never mix business and family’ lodged in our common vernacular.
In remote Indigenous communities we see the opposite. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs instinctively integrate their businesses with their lives – they aren’t ego-driven enterprises. In fact, business decision-making is made with deep consultation across the community and family behind it (read Impact North’s blog on When Women Lead to learn more about what this means from Indigenous women’s perspective). And in addition, entrepreneurs are far more likely to create opportunities for someone else, generally their family members, and see that as a key marker of success. But don’t just take my word for it, Supply Nation has shown that Indigenous businesses are 100 times more likely to hire Indigenous workers than non-Indigenous businesses.
Non-Indigenous businesses often work to reverse engineer their operations to ensure they are socially and environmentally responsible. What I have learned from working with Indigenous entrepreneurs, is that this responsibility is the starting point for a business.
Indigenous business will change the world.
Our mission at ELP is to support entrepreneurs to become future leaders and changemakers in their communities. By investing time and resources into entrepreneurs, we’re investing in meaningful, long-term community transformation.
As more and more budding entrepreneurs knock on our doors, we know we’re seeing the future of Australian business. Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are some of the most marginalised, disempowered and disadvantaged people in our country, and they are also some of the most resilient, creative and socially-responsible. The entrepreneurs we work with daily prove this to be true.
We ask you to imagine, with us, the kind of impact remote Indigenous entrepreneurs would have if there was more investment in transferring knowledge and skills, empowering community leaders and building strong networks that go beyond urban centres.
If you are a remote entrepreneur interested in finding out more about how we can support you to grow your business, please contact us.
If you are also working in this sector, and want to connect, please join the (free!) Impact North network and get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.
We need help to achieve our vision and transform how remote entrepreneurs are supported. If you would like to support us, please get in touch with me at alexie@elp.org.au
Above: Jayzena and Letty Billy in Minyerri (photo credit: Kate Atkinson)
