First Peoples economic landscape: analysis of the ecosystem

• Date: 07 August 2024
• Pages: 926-945
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-08-2022-0236
• Published date: 07 August 2024
• Author: Mark Jones,Pauline Stanton,Mark Rose

First Peoples economic landscape:

analysis of the ecosystem

Mark Jones

Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership,

Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Melbourne,

Melbourne, Australia

Pauline Stanton

School of Management, College of Business, RMIT University,

Melbourne, Australia, and

Mark Rose

Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

Purpose –This paper focuses on First Peoples Founders of for-profit entities in Australia and the role of the

Indigenous Economic Development Agencies (IEDAs). We explore the challenges facing First Peoples

enterprises, influenced by historical exclusion from white settler society, and the practices of the IEDAs from

the perspectives of Founders and agencies.

Design/methodology/approach –A qualitative study utilising Indigenous Standpoint Theory and

Indigenous research methods, elevating Founder perspectives, in the Yaruwu language - the Nilangany

Ngarrungunil, owners of knowledge, to that of research collaborators.

Findings –The First Peoples economic landscape is continually evolving with IEDAs contributing to that

evolution despite contentious identity ownership definitions. Founders secure in their own identity, are focused

on self-determination and opportunities provided by IEDAs, government and corporate sector policies.

However, opportunities are undermined by ongoing racism, discrimination and prevailing stereotypes leading

to homogeneity, invisibility and exclusion. Founders question organisational commitments to overcoming

systemic exclusion in particular their commitment to building respectful relationships and understanding First

Peoples ways of working. Instead, Founders focus on building a sustainable First Peoples economic ecosystem

through relationship-based practices rather than transactional reconciliation which ignores the reality of the

lived experience of everyday racism.

Originality/value –This study extends the scholarly discourse on First Peoples for-profit enterprise success

written with an Indigenous voice. We demonstrate how this Founder generation are strengthened by culture

with identity infused in organisational practices underpinning their aspirations of economic self-determination.

Keywords First Peoples enterprises, Identity, Indigenous Standpoint Theory, Racism, Self-determination,

Exclusion

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

Prior to British invasion in 1788, Terra Australis Incognita (Great Southern Land), comprised

over 650 sovereign nations, with differing languages, governance systems and ecological

advantages. Enterprise, trade, business was a bedrock of First Peoples society, thriving for

65,000 years or more, representing the world’s longest continuous living cultures (Cavanagh

and Veracini, 2017). The impact of colonisation and the deceitful application of terra nullius –

“land that belongs to no-one”led to dispossession of lands, cultural banishment,

infantilisation of First Peoples and exclusion from economic participation (Broome, 2010);

all key factors contributing to an ongoing multi-generational cycle of poverty, trauma and

marginalisation (Perkins and Langton, 2010).

The imposition of a homogenised Aboriginal identity continues to be a root of contention in

Australia, representing a continuing failure on the invaders part to comprehend the cultural

uniqueness of the hundreds of nations that have never ceded sovereignty nor autonomy of their

EDI

43,6

926

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-7149.htm

Received 25 August 2022

Revised 7 April 2023

7 July 2023

Accepted 13 May 2024

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 43 No. 6, 2024

pp. 926-945

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-08-2022-0236

diverse Country (Maddison, 2019). However, the activism of First Peoples focusing on sovereignty

and self-determination (Altman and Sanders, 1991) has led to the re-emergence of First Peoples

enterprises (Willmett, 2009). These enterprises are a vehicle for overcoming historical government

policies excluding First Peoples from commercial participation and economic prosperity and

contributing to a lack of fiscal inter-generational wealth (Galperin et al., 2021).

The growth of First Peoples enterprises is mirrored by the development of a First Peoples

economic ecosystem underpinned, in part, by government policies and corporate social

responsibility. These include the establishment of organisations such as Indigenous Business

Australia (IBA) and Supply Nation (SN), as well as the growth of organisational

Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) which often include organisational commitments to

First Peoples procurement objectives, and the development of First Peoples controlled

chambers of commerce.

This paper reports on a study of First Peoples Founders in Australia and their

relationships with the Indigenous Economic Development Agencies (IEDAs) and broader

First Peoples economic ecosystem. We exp lore the challenges facing First Peoples

enterprises, influenced by historical exclusion from white settler society. Whilst equity and

inclusion parallels exist globally amongst underrepresented groups pursuing entrepreneurial

engagements (Angove et al., 2008;Ramos-Escobar et al., 2022), the focus of our research is on

First Peoples. We argue that in Australia the inequitable and exclusionary practices and

impacts of colonisation continue to uniquely invade First Peoples wellbeing (Watego, 2021).

We utilise the term Founders recognising that the Indigenous enterprise literature has

utilised owners (Mika et al., 2019), entrepreneurs (Colbourne, 2021;Gallagher and Selman,

2015;Maritz et al., 2021) and enterprisers (Gladstone, 2021). However, we argue that these

terms convey a colonial stigma and in this study many of the owners of knowledge described

themselves as Founders. In the twenty-first century the First Peoples economic landscape in

Australia has evolved significantly for this cohort of First Peoples, coined the “Founder

generation”less astrocised from education and with expanding employment histories

(Craven and Price, 2020). There are now a number of influential government funded IEDAs

which are committed to incorporating a national economy encapsulating a diverse,

empowered and sustainable First Peoples enterprise sector. Foley and Hunter (2014)

acknowledge the role and contribution that institutional structures, such as First Peoples

chambers of commerce, peak association bodies and government policies play. IEDAs

advance government policy, providing capability development opportunities, access to

capital and networking opportunities with buyers (Maritz and Foley, 2018). However, the role

of the IEDAs is also contentious. First, to be constituted as a First Peoples enterprise,

organisations need to be owned, controlled and managed by First Peoples (Willmett, 2009).

We focus on three key IEDAs namely IBA, SN and Kinaway (Victorian First Peoples

Chamber of Commerce), drawing on yarns with twenty-four Founders and five IEDA

representatives.

In the paper, first, we introduce the relevant literature and describe the context of the

study, second, we outline our methodology, third we identify and discuss key themes and

findings emerging from the data and finally we draw conclusions.

Additionally, we examine the role of the IEDAs, in particular the contentious nature of

certification, identifying the importance of building relationships, based on reciprocal

practices and networks. We ask: what are the opportunities and challenges facing First

Peoples Founders and IEDAs in building an effective First Peoples economic ecosystem?

Foley (2017) argues that the First Peoples ecosystem has not evolved adequately to meet the

imperatives of First Peoples enterprises in addressing socio-economic priorities. In this paper

we explore this contention.

Studies suggest First Peoples represent one of the most researched targets of academia,

often posited as the problem (Dew et al., 2019) and usually from the colonisers perspective

Equality,

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