Indigenous Business Month was an exciting time for Yarpa, with many events and workshops aimed at connecting, up skilling and showcasing our businesses. 

One of the highlights for the month was the annual Meet the Buyer Strategic Matching event. 

This year, the event was held completely online and attracted over 30 Indigenous businesses and 18 potential Industry buyers. Indigenous businesses in attendance ranged from construction and plumbing to film production, legal and the arts. 

Yarpa Director, Westley Trist, opened the event by introducing Yarpa’s services and an overview of Indigenous business growth in the sector.

“We have a strong focus on business growth and the management of those businesses. We represent business owners and industry partners alike and we are absolutely privileged to host this event. We continually see a 6.5% growth in our membership every half a year – and that’s definitely aligned with the 12.5% growth per annum of the Indigenous business sector as a whole. The Indigenous business sector is growing, there’s no doubt about it.”

He also highlighted the importance of Indigenous businesses and the flow on effect back into communities. 

“We all know Indigenous businesses are more likely to employ Aboriginal people and what that really means is that there’s more money circulating in our communities and that’s social change in action.” 

A big thank you from the Yarpa team to all that came along and participated in the day. We hope to stay connected with you all throughout the year.