Cultivating Australian Indigenous Global Business: Opportunities and Challenges

Australian Indigenous commercial businesses are flourishing with a new generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs leading the charge into international markets. With this expansion, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander commercial businesses are increasingly drawing the attention of academics, practitioners, consumers and investors, slowly shifting the discourse from one of being largely invisible and with limited scalability to diverse, innovative and with strong growth potential. With the legitimacy of Australian Indigenous commercial businesses no longer in doubt, the focus now shifts to benchmarking and determining ‘what works’ on a global scale. This paper presents extensive desktop research that traces and synthesises key elements such as Australian government and global inter-governmental policy initiatives and advocacy, the thriving local and global ecology reinforcing and leveraging the capabilities of Indigenous business, and global perspectives of what it is to be an Indigenous business. Critically, issues such as the ‘black cladding’ of Indigenous businesses and the discord between non-Indigenous ‘imaginings’ or stereotypes and the commercial reality of Australian Indigenous businesses in terms of the scope, sectors and industries is addressed. Furthermore, key challenges are noted such as navigating diverse regulatory environments and the potential for cultural misunderstandings. By spotlighting the opportunities and articulating the challenges for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander commercial businesses, this paper offers both a long lens and a wide perspective which are needed to continue to cultivate self-determined Australian Indigenous global commercial businesses with Indigenous-led solutions and relational approaches to bolster long-term success.