7 August 2019

Western Sydney Indigenous Business Summit

The Yarpa NSW Indigenous Business and Employment Hub (the Yarpa Hub) in conjunction with the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) hosted the very first Western Sydney Indigenous Business Summit on 31 July 2019 at Warwick Farm.

The Summit was a unique and collaborative forum bringing together over 100 key stakeholders from the Indigenous business sector, government, corporates and industry to collaboratively look at how Aboriginal businesses can harness the economic opportunities arising across Western Sydney.

With the assistance of Two Point Co and the KPMG U-Collaborate team, the Summit facilitated an exchange of ideas, challenges and progressive thinking anchored by subject matter experts across a range of sectors. This included a panel discussion hosted by Stan Grant featuring leaders in the Aboriginal business and procurement sectors.

James Christian, NSW Aboriginal land Council Chief Executive officer, highlighted the importance of the Indigenous business sector leading these types of gatherings. “Western Sydney represents an unprecedented economic opportunity through the largest planning and investment partnership between industry and government in Australia’s history. Everyone here today plays an important role in this once in a lifetime opportunity. Whether you’re an Aboriginal business, a tier one construction company or a government agency, each of you are critical to the success of the future Western Sydney vision”, James Christian said.

Summit attendees also participated in a number of interactive workshops that aimed to address the challenges and more importantly, solutions, on how Aboriginal businesses can capitalise on the upcoming opportunities in Western Sydney.

Insights from the Western Sydney Indigenous Business Summit will be used produce an outcomes report that will help inform the Indigenous business sector and shape the future service offering of the Yarpa Hub.