ANZ and The University of Queensland (UQ) are piloting a new tool designed to improve how businesses, investors and lenders understand and measure Indigenous business participation across the Australian economy.
The pilot tool brings together publicly available information from corporate and business directories to identify and map connections between Indigenous businesses and organisations reporting on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.
The project is the first to consolidate the datasets and create meaningful linkages, providing deeper insights into Indigenous business engagement across corporate supply chains.
ANZ Director of First Nations Business Banking, Simone Kenmore, said strengthening relationships with Indigenous businesses aligns with ANZ's purpose to help shape a world where people and communities thrive.
"First Nations businesses are a growing and important part of Australia's economy," Ms Kenmore said.
"Better information helps us identify opportunities, connect businesses with customers and supply chains, and support growth through more informed banking conversations.
"The insights generated by this tool will help our bankers better understand customer needs and identify opportunities to support growth through access to finance, business networks and procurement opportunities."
Developed as an internal educational resource, the tool is intended to support conversations between ANZ bankers and customers by improving understanding of Indigenous economic participation and highlighting opportunities to strengthen engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned businesses.
ANZ said by providing greater visibility of Indigenous business participation across supply chains, the tool can help organisations identify opportunities for procurement, commercial partnerships and investment.
They said it can also support more informed conversations between ANZ bankers and customers, helping build understanding of an important and growing segment of the Australian economy.
The project was developed in collaboration with ANZ's First Nations Business Banking team and a large interdisciplinary team of academics from the UQ Business School, led by Associate Professor Jacquelyn Humphrey, including Indigenous researchers Dr Samantha Cooms and Dr Gaala Watson, as well as Dr Joel Mackenzie from UQ's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
"Access to better data and insights is an important step in understanding how businesses contribute to First Nations economic participation," Associated Professor Humphrey said.
"By bringing together information that has traditionally been fragmented, this project helps create a more evidence based understanding of the role First Nations businesses play in Australia's economy and supply chains."
The tool complements initiatives such as Fuelling the Fire, ANZ's program supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs and business owners, by helping strengthen connections between Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander businesses, customers and supply chains.
Together, ANZ said, the initiatives support greater visibility of Indigenous businesses and help create opportunities for growth, procurement partnerships and access to capital.
The tool is expected to be rolled out among ANZ bankers to support customers following a pilot period with UQ.
