Noongar Chamber of Commerce chief executive Tim Milsom is passionate about empowering First Nations businesses and growing the Indigenous economy.

Mr Milson helped set up the Perth-based Chamber of commerce in 2018 with several Indigenous leaders and entrepreneurs, including current chair Gordon Cole.

"I got a phone call out of the blue from Gordon who said he wanted to set up a chamber of commerce but said, by the way we've got no money," Mr Milsom laughed.

"I should've run for the hills then but obviously I didn't.

"I used all my contacts to help set it up and found them a hub at Princess Margaret Hospital, which was the old chief medical officer's house.

"We managed to encourage 10 Aboriginal businesses to work out of those premises and at the time those 10 Aboriginal businesses were probably employing about 35 people between them and turned over around $3-5 million.

"Today, those 10 Aboriginal businesses are still there and turning over something like $90 million and employing 450 staff between them. So, we know it works."

The Noongar Chamber which advocates for Aboriginal businesses to increase their participation in the economy now has more than 600 members.

Mr Milsom said the number one barrier facing First Nations business was access to finance because, for a long time, Indigenous people were seen as recipients of welfare.

"There are a lot of really clever businesspeople that just were not given a chance and it's those people we advocate for and want to see in business," he said.

"We help aboriginal businesses get into business from helping them with an ABN to GST to a bank account and then policies and procedures they can get access to.

"We have a tool kit for Aboriginal joint ventures, which helps them with some of the pitfalls associated with starting up a business.

"We advocate for free trade agreements, we advocate for intellectual property, and rights for Aboriginal businesses."

The former Fremantle Chamber of Commerce chief executive said despite calls from some First Nations businesses, academics and the Greens, to overhaul the current federal government's Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) he said it was just about right at the moment.

Under the current IPP, three per cent of all contracts and 1.75 per cent of the value of all contracts must be awarded to businesses at least 50 per cent owned by Indigenous people.

"The business sector is still fledging – it's growing but if you put it up to say 10 per cent then you create a real problem because the government wouldn't be able to hit targets because there aren't enough Aboriginal businesses out there to fulfil the 10 per cent spend because you're talking billions of dollars," he said.

"But the Indigenous economy is the fastest growing sector in Australia and the Noongar Chamber is the fastest growing chamber in Australia, so that's massive."

Mr Milsom said the First Nations businesses don't get the recognition they deserve when it comes to contributing to the Australian economy.

In April, the University of Melbourne's latest Indigenous business Snapshot showed Indigenous businesses it surveyed contributed more than $16 billion to the Australian economy, employed 116,795 people and paid $4.2 billion in wages.

"When I first started there were a few Aboriginal businesses but not that many, but now as I said before it's we are the fasting growing sector in Australia," Mr Milsom said.

"The Aboriginal community has woken up that they can be in business, and they've got a competitive advantage because there is a policy that says government will spend four per cent of its procurement on Aboriginal businesses.

"It's the oldest culture in the world and for years we almost denied it."