Ipswich City Council wants to develop and strengthen local Indigenous businesses.
Council’s Community Engagement Branch hosted the first Ipswich Indigenous Business networking breakfast at Fire Station 101 on Monday, which attracted about 60 people across various levels of government and business.
The breakfast was the official launch of a survey designed to ascertain the aspirations of local Indigenous businesses.
Conservation and Environment Committee Chairperson and Division 3’s Councillor Kerry Silver, the first Aboriginal councillor in Ipswich in the 160-year history of local government in the city, opened proceedings and spoke of a growing confidence in the Ipswich Indigenous business community.
Event MC Sharon Kinchela, co-founder and director of Ngiyani Pty Ltd, said the breakfast was a first and a unique opportunity to network with politicians, business people and up-and-coming members of the local Indigenous community. Ms Kinchela was joined by fellow Ngiyani co-founder and director Chris Figg.
Ngiyani provides management consultancy services to individuals, communities, and businesses to equip them to engage in a culturally competent way with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to provide pathways to economic independence.
Council’s Community Engagement Manager Abbey Richards announced the launch of the survey, with participants encouraged to fill forms out in writing on online.
“Ipswich City Council’s Community Engagement Branch is embarking on a program of capacity-building in consultation with Ngiyani Pty Ltd to further develop and strengthen our local Indigenous businesses and to empower their economic independence,” she said.
“This survey is designed to ascertain the aspirations of our local Indigenous businesses.
“At a later event local Indigenous businesses will be invited to participate in a facilitated forum and to co-design a capacity-building program, based on the key themes that emerge from responses to this survey.”
The event enjoyed an amazing guitar and vocal performance from Miss Gertrude. Other guests included Indigenous artist Debbie Scott, who had some of her work on display, and was noted for her work designing the Ipswich City Council emblem.
Survey
Ipswich Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business owners (i.e. those currently operating or looking to start up a business) are invited to complete this survey by 5pm Friday 6 April. Completing this survey will take approximately 15-20 minutes and will help guide the development of the forum mentioned above and ongoing program content.
What your participation involves:
- Your participation in this survey is voluntary.
- You are 15 years of age or more and consent to participate in this survey.
- Your information will be kept confidential and will not be given to any other agency unless you have given us permission or we are required by law to do so.
- The information from completed surveys will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Information Act 2009.
- Survey responses will be de-identified (business names will be removed) and pooled with all other responses. Survey results will be reported as an aggregate of all responses.
If you have questions about this survey please call Karri Browne at Ipswich City Council’s Community Engagement Branch on 07 3810 6646. To begin your response please confirm that you are at least 15 years of age and then click ‘Next’ to indicate your consent to participate in this survey.
