Indigenous Business Month celebrates female achievement
The fourth Indigenous Business Month has been launched in Melbourne for the first time, kicking off a month long calendar of events to be held around the country celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in business.
“It’s great to be launching the most impactful Indigenous Business Month yet at the home of the MURRA Indigenous Business Master Class program from which this initiative was born.” said Associate Professor Michelle Evans, Program Director of the MURRA program and co-founder of Indigenous Business Month.
“It is more impactful because the footprint is larger, we have an international event for the first time and the sector has grown. More so than ever before we need to showcase the diversity and Indigenous business leadership of the Indigenous business sector.
As part of the launch, PwC Indigenous Consulting’s Co-CEO Jodie Sizer announced for the third year, the PwC & MURRA Boost Initiative will be available to one female Indigenous Business owner, receiving $30 000 worth of skills and expertise provided by PwC Australia.
The initiative is designed to help strengthen business practices and build capacity within an Indigenous organisation in Australia while supporting a specific issue that will allow for future growth.
“We are proud to offer this opportunity to assist an Indigenous business to achieve its goals, to strengthen its business practices and continue to be a leader for others in the sector,” said Kim Cheater, the PwC Reconciliation Governance Group Co-Chair.
Indigenous Business Month co-founder Professor Michelle Evans and Kim Cheater from PwC will be on the PwC & MURRA Boost Initiative selection panel, applications for which are now open.
The launch event was attended by thirty Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs from all business sectors. Special guest speakers also included Dean Jarrett who is completing his PhD in supplier diversity and spoke of the key challenges facing Indigenous supplier diversity in Australia.
Throughout October, over thirty Indigenous Business Month events will take place across the country as well as the first international event in Wellington, New Zealand.
The events aims to ignite conversations about Indigenous business development and innovation, focusing on women’s roles and leadership, to coincide with the 2018 NAIDOC theme Because of Her, We Can.
Indigenous Business Month is an initiative driven by the alumni of Melbourne Business School’s MURRA Indigenous Business Master Class, who see business as a way of providing positive role models for young Indigenous Australians and improving quality of life in Indigenous communities.
Indigenous Business Month runs from 2 October to 31 October 2018. Check out the website for an event near you. The initiative is supported by Asia Pacific Social Impact Centre at the University of Melbourne, 33 Creative, Iscariot Media, and PwC.
