Navigating Unreasonable, Unsustainable and Unjust Financial Practices: Experiences of Indigenous Small Business Owners

Levon Blue; Mark Brimble; Kerry Bodle; Lorelle Frazer; Scott Weaven; Douglas Hunt

doi:10.3390/su17052103

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Navigating Unreasonable, Unsustainable and Unjust Financial Practices: Experiences of Indigenous Small Business Owners

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Navigating Unreasonable, Unsustainable and Unjust Financial Practices: Experiences of Indigenous Small Business Owners

Levon Blue, Mark Brimble, Kerry Bodle, Lorelle Frazer, Scott Weaven and Douglas Hunt

Sustainability, Vol.17(5), pp.1-23

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052103

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Abstract

indigenous

small business

financial literacy

training

funding

Indigenous peoples continue to be underrepresented in small businesses in Australia. The aim of this paper was to explore the financial practices impacting the sustainability of Indigenous small business owners. We sought to find out how Indigenous Australian small business owners sustain their small businesses by exploring the associated financial practices. To achieve this, we conducted 45 interviews with Indigenous small business owners and stakeholders. We analysed the interviews to identify themes and then grouped the themes into three categories: (1) personal, relational and institutional considerations; (2) operational (internal and external) challenges; and (3) development challenges (that hinder business operations). We found unreasonable, unsustainable and/or unjust financial practices across the personal, relational and institutional considerations that Indigenous Australian small business owners face. Based on these findings, we recommend changes to provide government-funded opportunities for Indigenous graduates to offer business training. We also advocate for increased access to funding for Indigenous small businesses and analysis of loan frameworks nationally to identify ways to transform financial practices associated with lending. Our recommendations, if adopted, could help to further strengthen support initiatives that benefit Indigenous Australians.

Details

Title: Navigating Unreasonable, Unsustainable and Unjust Financial Practices: Experiences of Indigenous Small Business Owners
Authors: Levon Blue - The University of Queensland
Mark Brimble (Corresponding Author) - Griffith University
Kerry Bodle - Griffith University
Lorelle Frazer - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Business and Creative Industries
Scott Weaven - Griffith University
Douglas Hunt - Griffith University
Publication details: Sustainability, Vol.17(5), pp.1-23
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.3390/su17052103
ISSN: 2071-1050
Copyright note: © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: The data presented in this study are available upon request from the corresponding author due to ethical reasons.
Grants: Empowering Indigenous businesses through improved financial literacy, IN180100052 , Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Organisation Unit: School of Business and Creative Industries
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991127002002621
Output Type: Journal article

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Web Of Science research areas: Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies; Green & Sustainable Science & Technology

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