This presentation explores the relationship between education, employment and entrepreneurship for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While education is often framed as a key enabler of economic participation, it is also a site where racialised narratives and colonial values persist. These dynamics influence the perceived career opportunities available to Indigenous learners upon completing school and the pathways through which employment and entrepreneurship are imagined and pursued.
Structural racism that remains present in our modern-day education systems and can limit Indigenous students’ aspirations, reinforce deficit discourses, and disconnect formal learning from community and cultural knowledge systems. Likewise, racism in the business landscape, shapes the conditions under which Indigenous employment occurs and Indigenous entrepreneurs operate. Yet, despite these headwinds, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are redefining success on their own terms in workplaces and in the marketplaces around Australia.
Education, when responsive to Indigenous sovereignty and identity, can support employment goals and entrepreneurial efforts that are grounded in community wellbeing, cultural continuity, and economic justice. This presentation argues for an approach that recognises and addresses racialised structures across education, employment and entrepreneurship ecosystems, while also amplifying Indigenous strengths, leadership and innovation. By doing so, it contributes to the manifestation of bright, self-determined and thriving Indigenous futures.