Backing Indigenous Business
How to collaborate with the Indigenous community, deadly businesses to get behind, and resources for learning more.
Hello and welcome to another edition of Humans For Good 👋
Indigenous Business Month has just come to an end but its message (“Actions Today, Impact Tomorrow”) is as important as ever. Our November newsletter is all about backing the Indigenous community, by not only saying the right things - but by listening first, taking action with authenticity (and without fear), and staying accountable to our commitments.
Read on to find 5 things to keep in mind when collaborating with Indigenous businesses, a few great brands to shop with, and resources for levelling up your understanding of this space. To learn more, don’t miss our conversation with Nathan Lovett a couple of weeks back.
Deadly businesses to get behind
🍫 Send Christmas hampers with Australian botanical-infused chocolates
🎨 Decorate your home with art that tells stories (currently 40% off 😉)
☀️ Gift these stunning kids clothes, inspired by Aussie bush, desert and sea
🛍️ Browse Trading Blak to shop for Christmas gifts and more
🍿 Snack on or stock popcorn that is flavoured with native Australian ingredients
🌠 Read this illustrated science book to kids in your life
✊ Stand in solidarity, wear your values and spark conversations with these tees
🏃♀️ Exercise with activewear and yoga mats that feature Indigenous designs
👨🍳 Learn to cook using native flavours, or visit the Mabu Mabu kitchen in Melbourne
🍻 Choose this non-alcoholic beer for your EOY parties
5 things we need to know about working with the Indigenous community, by Nathan Lovett
Nathan Lovett shares his thoughts around how we can learn from, collaborate with and generally back Indigenous businesses.
Whether you’re hiring, investing or running a program with Indigenous communities: listen first, and always get a representative in the room who can share and contribute to the decision-making and building process
In order to avoid black cladding (where businesses appear to be Indigenous-led but are not), do your due diligence and get to know the businesses that you work with. You can also use up & coming platforms like Trading Blak and connect with local Indigenous business chambers like NSWICC and Kinaway
There’s heaps of opportunity for Indigenous businesses to invest back in their community; both financially and in helping to boost capability (this is already happening!)
If we’re looking to support Indigenous communities, we need to ask ourselves whether our work is making the change we claim that it is. There can be a disparity between the commitments being made, and actually making these happen. There needs to be accountability and research about the effectiveness of all Indigenous programs
In the pursuit of collaborating with Indigenous business and communities, it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you have made a genuine effort, are not hiding or misrepresenting anything, and you are involving the voices of Indigenous people. Learn from this and let the community guide you
Recommended reads & resources
Follow the @blackbusiness or @abcindigenous on Insta to understand and discuss Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander topics
Check out podcasts like Always Our Stories, Black Magic Women, Deadly Podcasts, Indigipreneur Podcast and Pretty for an Aboriginal (more here)
Attend the First & Forever festival in Victoria on Sunday November 27; a celebration of First Nations culture, music and excellence
Browse TradingBlak, Kinaway, Supply Nation and NSWICC for amazing Indigenous-led businesses to shop and work with
Have a read of the Backing Black Business report to learn about the unique barriers Indigenous businesses face while accessing funding
Have other suggestions? Join our Slack community and add them to the #reads-and-resources channel.
Food for thought
“Reconciliation will not work if it puts a higher value on symbolic gestures rather than the practical needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in areas like health, housing, education and employment.” Warren Mundine AO, Aboriginal Community Leader
“The tide is turning, I can feel it. People are starting to understand how important Indigenous culture is. Our mindfulness, our intuitiveness and our connection to our environment are being sought out; looked to as a panacea in this busy and chaotic world we live in.” Dion Devon, ACT NAIDOC Person of the Year
“We have our eye on the same destination – a sustainable future where Indigenous people are recognised for their wisdom and honoured for their culture – there is no problem taking a different path to reach that place.” Kirstie Parker, ex CEO of National Centre of Indigenous Excellence
“Here in Australia we’re fortunate enough to have one of the richest and oldest continuing cultures in the world. This is something we should all be proud of and celebrate.” Dr Tom Calma AO, Co-Chair Reconciliation Australia
A few good offers
Attend the ImpactX Summit with a 20% discount, or grab a startup ticket for $49
Run an event with Butter and get 30% off the first 3 months using HFG30
Build a website with Pory and enter HUMANS_FOR_GOOD for 20% off all plans
Thanks for reading and sharing!
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Until next time,
— Georgia, Todd and the team from Humans For Good