JOBS and opportunities can be few and far between in remote indigenous communities, but the notion of micro-enterprise is burgeoning, thanks in part to the efforts of a dedicated local not-for-profit.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Sydneysider-turned-Katherinite Laura Egan started Enterprise Learning Projects in 2010 after working in a West Australian indigenous community.
Having been exposed to the idea of enterprise as a tool for community development during a stint in India, she saw the same potential back in Australia.
“I started to experiment with the young women there, and asked the women if they wanted to do a pop-up milkshake stand,” she reflected.
“We turned up the music, everyone responded to it really positively, and the whole community got behind it.
“There was so much appetite for learning, and people were just really drawn to it as a creative process.”
After discovering a gap between what enterprise support organisations existed and what indigenous people wanted, Ms Egan established ELP and is now helping a number of micro-businesses and ideas in the region to gain momentum.
“We teach enterprise skills that can be applied to leadership, getting a job, starting a business, and knowledge and skills about how the market economy works,” Ms Egan said.
“It enables people to see what makes a viable product and to build confidence.
Working with a pool of facilitators in communities such as Yarralin, Minyerri, and Gunbalanya, there are a number of micro-businesses experiencing success.
With the assistance of ELP, a group of women in Yarralin have started a soap-making business which uses native plants and traditional bush medicine.
Ngarinyman Bush Soap products are sold in a number of retail outlets throughout Katherine and in the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.
In Minyerri, community members are screen printing pillow cases, t-shirts and tea towels for sale, and have plans to get an arts centre up and running.
“Retail outlets in Katherine, like Mimi Arts and GYRACC have been really supportive and have had a critical role in the process,” Ms Egan said.
“Communities can produce the products, but they have to have a market to sell it in so the local retailers have been super important.”
In the Katherine region, ELP’s work is funded by the federal government through the Communities for Children initiative, which is managed by the Smith Family.
