Indigenous Business Month

Did you know that October is Indigenous Business Month?

Indigenous Business Month is an initiative of the MURRA Indigenous Master Class Program (MURRA) alumni, to promote the variety and depth of Indigenous businesses nationally, and to provide an Indigenous business voice to the national conversation.

There are currently 634 Aboriginal businesses registered with the WA Aboriginal Business Directory, up from about 410 in 2017. Of those the majority (342) are in regional WA, with 32 of those in the South West - including our client IPS Management Consultants, a national Indigenous-owned business consultant and Supplier Diversity leader with a head office in Bunbury.

We asked IPS to talk to us about Indigenous Business Month and why Supplier Diversity is important.

Indigenous Business Month: Celebrating Supplier Diversity

​​For every dollar of revenue Indigenous businesses create, they generate $4.41 of economic and social value.
(Supply Nation, The Sleeping Giant)

IPS Management Consultants Leadership team Jahna Cedar, Katina Law, Damien Chalk, Kristal Kinsela-Christie and Doug Green at Supply Nation Connect in May 2019, where they accepted the Certified Supplier of the Year award for the second year in a row.

​Indigenous businesses provide services across South West WA as varied as cultural experiences, plumbing, professional services and health services.

​The opportunities for Indigenous businesses in WA are currently growing, thanks to the WA Aboriginal Procurement Policy (APP). This policy requires government agencies to award a minimum of two per cent of contracts to registered Aboriginal businesses in the 2019-2020 financial year. Similar policies are in place in NSW, Qld and nationally.

These policies support increased opportunity for Indigenous businesses, create employment, build capacity in local communities, and strengthen the diversity of suppliers operating businesses and offering services. A diverse supplier base is important because it promotes innovation, provides multiple procurement channels for goods and services, and actively helps to build the capacity of a diverse range of suppliers.

IPS Management Consultants were proud to be recognised as Certified Supplier of the Year by Supply Nation in 2018 and 2019. We do a lot of work in this space, from the development, review and implementation of Reconciliation Action Plans for businesses across the country, to capacity building for Indigenous businesses. This year our Managing Director Kristal Kinsela-Christie wrote the first book to be published on Supplier Diversity in Australia. Supplier Diversity How is a step by step guide for government and corporate buyers looking at procuring Indigenous business, and is rapidly becoming a popular title around the country.

Kristal explains Supplier Diversity in the first paragraph of the book as follows:

Supplier Diversity is plain common sense.
Why wouldn't you want to use your procurement spend or purchasing power to buy a quality product or service, enact social change and have a positive impact on the lives of Indigenous people at the same time?

Indigenous Business Month is important to IPS Management Consultants, and to the Indigenous business community as a whole, because it recognises the breadth and depth of Indigenous business around Australia and the incredible benefits supplier diversity has to the economy and the community.