Major banks and venture capital firms say they want to finance more Indigenous business as this sector grows at a rate higher than the economy, but those from within First Nations enterprise say the finance sector has a lot to improve.
Naomi Anstess is a business consultant who coaches First Nations entrepreneurs and small business owners, including Rayleen Brown.
Take the example of a Darwin-based concrete start-up that Naomi is currently mentoring. They need $1.4 million to buy new equipment and grow."Aboriginal people generally don't have any inter-generational wealth, and that's due to dispossession. It creates an inability to grow." Achieving VC is difficult for all entrepreneurs, but Morgan especially felt a lack of a "wealth network" to open doors for him, and believes those who did open them "with good intentions" didn't understand cultural differences.
NAB's positioning itself as the market leader. It recently appointed its first Indigenous business and banking specialist, Adam Fletcher. Bawrunga recently went to a Commonwealth body set up to fund Indigenous business, IBA, for a loan to open a new building. However, its chief executive Leavina Reid says they were knocked back.
"It gives me great pleasure to be able to sit here and to be able to talk about our journey," she says.Andrea Jackson heads up another not-for-profit, Maraway, that has built itself up through grants.
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