Aboriginal Affairs NSW
The Roadmap for Aboriginal business growth
Economic growth plays a big role in Closing the Gap outcomes. This is why NSW created a fifth priority reform on Aboriginal employment and business growth. The reform is about changing ways of working across NSW Government, and Aboriginal business and community. It's aims to make a genuine difference in the lives of Aboriginal people and communities.
This Reform addresses Socio-Economic Outcome 8; 'strong economic participation and development of Aboriginal people and communities’.
The NSW Closing the Gap Implementation Plan 2022–2024 outlines how we will do this. The NSW Roadmap for Aboriginal Business Growth (the Roadmap) is one part of it.
How we made the Roadmap
In October 2021 and May 2022, the NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs hosted Aboriginal Business Roundtables. This was to hear directly from Aboriginal businesses. They discussed what challenges they face to enter, grow and thrive in the NSW business sector.
In December, at the final Aboriginal business event for 2022, the NSW Government asked for public feedback. Lots of valuable feedback from this was then incorporated into the Roadmap.
What’s in the Roadmap
The Roadmap includes three areas aligned with key themes from the Roundtable events:
- Strengthening accountability,
- Supporting businesses, and
- Recognising talent
Each area contains aims and actions to achieve them.
The Roadmap will provide targeted support for Aboriginal businesses to complement existing work.
How are we progressing?
The Roadmap to achieve positive change for the Aboriginal business sector in NSW is underway.
A total of eight Aboriginal Business events have been held in the Roundtable series to date since October 2021, as part of the commitment to ongoing dialogue.
The most recent Aboriginal Business Roundtable was held in Parramatta, on Wednesday 30 October 2024 and was our largest event to date.
The focus of the October 2024 Roundtable was: Business Growth, Sustainability and Renewable Energy, and featured keynote presentations, a panel discussion and a new Opportunities Hub delivered by leading government representatives and private sector organisations.
