Building Indigenous opportunities

When Gordon Cole established the Noongar Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2018, he admits to having modest expectations.

“I anticipated we’d get 150 members after three or five years,” he said.

“We have almost 520 members now, with members interstate and overseas, and we have about 200 non-Aboriginal businesses associated with the chamber.”

As chair of the Noongar Chamber, Mr Cole leads one of 11 Aboriginal chambers of commerce across the country.

Nationally, there are about 4,000 verified Indigenous businesses, according to government agency Supply Nation. Mr Cole anticipates rapid expansion.

“If we look at the growth in the next 15 years in this country, we could have 50,000 First Nations businesses,” he said. “We will see a growth that is unprecedented.”

Mr Cole was speaking earlier this month at a Business News function focused on the Indigenous business sector.

“This wouldn’t have happened 10 years or 15 years ago in this city or in our state,” he told the 400 guests.

Breaking barriers

Kim Collard recalls a lot of scepticism about Indigenous businesses when he established Kulbardi nearly 10 years ago.

“There were lots of stereotypes and myths about whether they have capability, do they have capacity, can they deliver,” Mr Collard said.

“They were all barriers.

“We smashed through those barriers.”

Kim Collard believes native title has been the main driver of opportunities for Indigenous businesses.

Kulbardi is now considered Australia’s largest Indigenous office products supplier, with average annual sales growth of about 20 per cent.

Kulbardi was also one of the first Aboriginal businesses to be included on a state government common-use agreement (CUA) as a panel member.

It still generates about 70 per cent of its revenue in Western Australia but is employing new staff to support an expansion on the east coast.

Mr Collard believes native title has been the major driver of growth for the Indigenous business sector, as it had prompted the big mining companies to engage with Aboriginal people.

“Many of the resources companies were the ones that opened the door about 15 years ago,” he said.

“Kulbardi was one of those. I was given a small opportunity and it was then up to me to ensure we could deliver on that.

“We have gone from strength to strength.”

The importance of the resource sector is reflected in Kulbardi’s major customers, led by Rio Tinto, BHP Nickel West, Alcoa, Chevron and rail car manufacturer Alstom.

Mr Collard emphasised that Kulbardi needed to deliver commercial results.

“If we can’t deliver on pricing, if we can’t deliver on customer support, if we can’t deliver on product, then we should not be in business,” he said.

Big miners

The critical role played by big mining companies in supporting the Indigenous business sector is clearly evidenced by data compiled by Business News.

The latest procurement data from the big three iron ore miners shows they purchased a record $1.1 billion worth of goods and services from Indigenous businesses during the past year (see table, page 20).

That’s up 28 per cent on the prior year, with Rio Tinto leading the way.

Rio spent $504 million with 105 indigenous businesses in WA in 2022, up 68 per cent on the previous year.

That put it ahead of Fortescue Metals Group, which purchased $452 million of goods and services from Aboriginal businesses.

Fortescue has traditionally been the largest supporter of Aboriginal businesses by some measure, having awarded $4 billion worth of contracts over the past 11 years.

BHP is ranked a distant third among the big iron ore miners but is working to lift its contribution.

Its WA iron ore business spent $158 million with Aboriginal businesses in the year to June 2022, an increase of 69 per cent.

BHP says it is on target to achieve an annual spend of $300 million by 2024. The spending by other mining companies, including the big goldminers, pales by comparison.

Northern Star Resources, for instance, has a target to spend $20 million with Indigenous businesses by 2024.

Government Mr Cole said the federal government’s Indigenous Procurement Policy and the WA government’s Aboriginal Procurement Policy – which both have procurement targets – had played a big role in the sector’s growth.

“The APP in WA and the IPP at a federal level are the gooses that are laying the golden egg,” he said.

“Without those policy frameworks, many of our businesses would not get an opportunity.

“It’s not to say everything is fantastic with it, but it has started a process we can work with.”

The WA government’s APP targets 3 per cent of all contracts being awarded to Indigenous businesses, rising to 4 per cent by 2024.

Tony Buti says native title has fostered a culture of agreement making in WA. Photo: John Koh

Speaking at the Business News event, Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti said the government had exceeded the target every year.

Since the APP began four years ago, it has awarded 959 contracts to 253 Aboriginal businesses worth $821 million.

That included a record spend in the year to June 2022, when the WA government bought $254 million of goods and services from Indigenous businesses.

This was inflated by two large contracts awarded to not-for-profit health services, which fall outside the mainstream Indigenous business sector.

Dr Buti said the government would continue to review the targets and refine the policy.

“There will come a stage when we won’t need the targets,” he said. “As more Aboriginal businesses become successful, they will become baseline targets.”

Dr Buti agreed that native title had played a big part in fostering Indigenous business, saying there was now a culture of agreement making in WA.

He noted there were 136 native title determinations in WA, half of all the agreements across the country.

Paula White says her business is very hands-on with the support it provides to trainees. Photo: John Koh

Challenges

Banjima woman Paula White has achieved major breakthroughs with her business after some tough early years.

“I started about 10 years ago and it was one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever faced,” Ms White told Business News.

“My philosophy was to never give up, always find a solution.”

She established her first business after gaining extensive workplace and community engagement experience, working for the WA Police Force, the Department of Justice and Gumala Aboriginal Corporation.

Ms White said it took four years before the business won its first major contract. During that time, she focused on building her capacity with other businesses.

The first breakthrough came in 2019 when the company she co-founded, White Springs, won a contract with Rio Tinto to supply more than 600,000 tonnes of ballast for the rail line for the Gudai-Darri mine.

The contract required the establishment of Bea Bea Creek quarry, the first Indigenous owned and operated quarry in WA.

Ms White said the five-year-old contractor had previously won several smaller contracts, but with the support of Rio was building its capability to undertake larger projects.

“It was done on time and safely,” she said.

Ms White noted that Rio helped White Springs by supplying extra trucks.

“It’s about reciprocation with the client,” she said.

An even bigger win came in 2022, when BHP awarded her second company, PMW Industries, a five-year contract believed to be worth $70 million to operate and maintain a crushing and screening plant at mining area C.

She was helped by BHP’s decision to restrict its tender to Banjima businesses, to enable traditional owner businesses to work on-country.

“BHP was quietly watching as I built my reputation along the way,” Ms White said.

“I’d done a few tenders with BHP and never won one.

“The contract was a challenge to the way things are usually done, as usually it would have gone to a tier one contractor with experience.”

In practice, PMW will be assisted by a tier one contractor.

It has formed a strategic partnership with Mineral Resources’ subsidiary Crushing Services International, which is the largest operator of crushing and screening plants in Australia.

PMW and CSI have established a 51:49 joint venture, which Ms White believes is a win-win outcome.

PMW already has eight Indigenous trainees and two Indigenous operators on the contract, with Ms White keen to train more people.

“We want to build up our capacity so that in future we can operate on our own,” she said.

“It gives CSI an opportunity to grow their Aboriginal engagement and meet the KPIs of the client.”

Amanda Healy says there has been a change in the perception of what an Aboriginal business can be. Photo: John Koh

Sector lead

One of the biggest success stories in the state’s Indigenous business sector has been engineering contractor Warrikal.

Co-founded and majority owned by Koori woman Amanda Healy, it has grown to have 850 staff and contractors.

Ms Healy established the business in 2017 after selling her previous engineering business in Port Hedland.

“The growth has been amazing,” Ms Healy told Business News.

“The support of organisations like FMG, BHP, Rio Tinto, has been quite remarkable.

“The push to make sure we are included is more and more so.

And don’t stop here, we’d like to see more of it.”

Warrikal is ranked as the state’s largest Indigenous business, according to Data & Insights (see page 27).

It is followed by Daniel Tucker’s Carey Group, which was established in 1995, making it one of WA’s oldest Indigenous businesses.

Third on the list is Maali Group, led by this year’s 40under40 First Amongst Equals Mitchell Matera.

Maali has grown rapidly to have nearly 300 staff.

Next on the list is privately owned Eastern Guruma, followed by two joint venture businesses, Guma-Warnii and GBSC Yurra.

Reflecting on Warrikal’s success, Ms Healy said an important aspect was ensuring agreements were properly structured.

“You need to be very thorough and understand exactly what you are agreeing to,” she said.

She also emphasised the need to compromise.

“When you work with big companies, you definitely need to make compromises and adjust the way you operate.”

Ms Healy said businesses like Warrikal, Kulbardi and White Springs were setting an example for others to follow.

“What is really important is that we are changing the perception of what an Aboriginal business can be,” she said.

“That’s really important to me, that we continue to push the envelope and change the way we are seen.

“We are not poor little black fellas any more, we are competent capable businesses.

“Some still need support, but by and large our business sector is fantastic.”

Melanie Tullock-Dhu (left) has coordinated Job Ready training for dozens of Tjiwarl people, including her niece Shauna Tullock. Photo: BHP

Training focus

Ms Healy said Warrikal had an Indigenous employment rate of about 15 per cent.

While she was pleased with that, she highlighted the importance of training.

“The stuff we love the most is a group of people who are ex-offenders,” Ms Healy said.

“We have about 45 of those fellas who are resetting their lives.

“Everything else is fantastic but for me that is amazing, that our mob are given an opportunity to make serious change in their lives, and that is a real privilege.”

She also commended the work done by the Waalitj Foundation, which provides a range of training and mentoring programs.

These include the Deadly Sista Girlz mentoring program, focused on helping girls continue at school or in training. Its Waalitj Hub has provided coaching to 315 First Nations businesses.

Ms White said her businesses also had a big focus on training, particularly for people at risk of dropping out of the workforce.

“We are hands-on,” she said.

“If they are not at work, we ring them, we chase them up.

“We have an employee assistance program, and we encourage our employees to use it.

“If they have any issues at home, we offer that EAP.

“We focus on keeping them employed.”

Mining companies such as BHP Nickel West have also supported training programs.

The company signed a comprehensive native title agreement in 2018 with the Tjiwarl people in the northern Goldfields, encompassing culture, land management, business development, education and employment opportunities.

One tangible outcome has been the Tjiwarl Work Ready program, led by Melanie Tullock-Dhu.

More than 50 Tjiwarl traditional owners have completed the eight-week program, which provides an introduction to life working for a mining company.

The trainees have joined BHP teams at the company’s Leinster and Mt Keith nickel mines, giving them opportunities to work on-country.

It includes classroom and on-the-job experience, and those who take part leave with a nationally recognised qualification.

The Tjiwarl people also have an agreement with Liontown Resources, which is developing the Kathleen Valley lithium mine on Tjiwarl country.

That agreement has had flow-on effects via Zenith Energy, which has been contracted by Liontown to build an off-grid power station at the mine.

Zenith has established a joint venture with traditional owner business Tjiwarl Contracting Services to provide power-related services on Tjiwarl country, starting with the Kathleen Valley project.

The joint venture, which is 80 per cent owned by Tjiwarl Contracting Services, will also target work opportunities on any future power station contracts won by Zenith.

Ms White encouraged big mining companies to push for more agreements of this kind.

“I’d like to see the mining companies push their big suppliers and tier one contractors to engage in more Indigenous employment and carve out more opportunities for Indigenous businesses,” Ms White said.

She said this would not only create opportunities for traditional owners, it would also help the mining companies.

“That eases the burden on the mining companies to meet their own employment targets,” Ms White said.

Dr Buti said the government had multiple programs to support training and education and highlighted early childhood education as particularly important.

“In WA, Aboriginal kids attend 600 hours a year of early childhood education,” he said.

“It is an incredibly high rate.”

Dr Buti said boosting school attendance was critical, as it not only improved education outcomes but helped students understand commitment and the need to attend on a regular basis, which were habits they would need in the workplace.

Finance access

Panellists at the Business News event agreed that access to finance was a challenge for many Indigenous people.

National Australia Bank’s lead of Indigenous banking for WA, SA & NT Annie Ashworth said the bank was seeking innovative ways to provide funding for Indigenous businesses, which could range across debt, equity and seed funding in partnership with other investors.

“Working with remote communities is the part of my job that I love the most,” Ms Ashworth told Business News.

She noted that royalties from native title agreements typically sat in trust funds and had defined uses.

Against that backdrop, the bank was exploring options to make an impact across regional areas.

“It is all about how we provide support around investment strategies and activation of business for community members, whether it be startups through to employment opportunities or education for children,” Ms Ashworth said.

“We need to get smarter and more innovative in how we bring capital to the sector and in a way that is culturally appropriate.

“We also need to tailor solutions to the needs of each community.”

Kulbardi’s Mr Collard said he was in the fortunate position of not having to seek a bank loan.

His consultancy business has been operating for 23 years and gave him the capacity to invest in Kulbardi at the outset.

“I didn’t have to go to banks, I had my own capital to do that,” Mr Collard said.

The success of Kulbardi has enabled him to establish other businesses, notably Kooya Fleet Solutions and Kooya Salary Packaging.

“All of that has been a result of investing back into my businesses,” he said.

Mr Cole from the Noongar Chamber said it was difficult for many Aboriginal people to access bank finance.

 “The current system doesn’t allow people to access capital and finance because they are coming off a low base,” he said.

“We’ve only just come out of the first generation of [Aboriginal] people that have paid for their own home.

“The legacy of the past is there, we have to acknowledge it, but that can’t be the thing that holds us back.”

Ms White said Indigenous business owners needed to partner with banks to grow their capacity, but education was a missing key.

“Traditional owners don’t know who to go and see to get a loan,” she said.

“They need to step outside their comfort zone, so they can buy and pay down a house.”

Diversification Mr Cole said the bulk of Aboriginal people in WA lived in the south of the state.

He cited agriculture and retail as two areas where Aboriginal people were not well represented.

“The barriers and the systemic issues are a legacy of the past,” Mr Cole said.

“Particularly in the Wheatbelt; our people are not involved in the economy in a great way.

“The attitudes of the wider community need to embrace our people.”

Dr Buti said he was aware of an aspiration to diversify the Aboriginal business sector.

“We need to listen to Aboriginal people about areas they want to move into and ask if there are particular systemic barriers that are preventing that,” he said.

“There may not be. But if there are, we need to look at that.”