Behind every Aboriginal business is a story of someone who decided to back themselves. Someone who carried an idea through the doubt, the setbacks and the hard work. Someone who saw a gap in their community and chose to do something about it. Someone creating jobs, strengthening culture and opening doors for the next generation.
Seven Aboriginal entrepreneurs recently graduated from Impact North's 2026 Business Builder program at a ceremony held on Larrakia Country in Darwin.
The graduating businesses span native foods and catering, art and weaving, cultural engagement, language services, tourism, construction, recruitment and training. Their reach stretches across the Northern Territory, from Darwin and Maningrida to Tennant Creek and Central Australia.
They show just how broad Aboriginal business capability is across the Territory.
These are businesses with ambition, local knowledge and a clear understanding of what their communities need. What they require is the same thing every growing business needs: access to the right advice, strong networks and genuine opportunities.
For Shannon Motlop of Aboriginal Community Harvest in Darwin, growing a business has felt like building a home.
"It's like building a home, all the blood, sweat and tears. You're proud of it. Same sort of feeling as building a business," he said.
That pride matters because Aboriginal entrepreneurs are often carrying more than a commercial responsibility. Many are building businesses while responding to community need, creating culturally safe workplaces and navigating systems that were not designed with them in mind.
Business Builder is Impact North's annual program for established First Nations-owned businesses across the Northern Territory that are ready to take their next step.
Delivered on Country, the program provides tailored support shaped around the needs and goals of each entrepreneur. Participants strengthen their capability in areas such as funding, marketing, accounting and business strategy, giving them practical tools they can continue using long after graduation.
Graduates also join Impact North's Community membership network, connecting them with other Indigenous entrepreneurs and national partners, including Social Enterprise Australia.
At the heart of the program is something Aboriginal people have always understood: self-determination must include economic self-determination.
It means Aboriginal people owning businesses, making decisions about their own futures and creating employment for their own people. It means moving beyond conversations about disadvantage and recognising the capability, innovation and leadership already sitting within communities.
Entrepreneurs supported by Impact North have created 188 new job opportunities for First Nations people in remote communities. The program has also reported that 89 per cent of participants experienced increased personal empowerment after taking part.
Those figures are important, but the real impact reaches much further. A job can change the direction of a family. A successful business can create opportunities in a place where very few previously existed. An entrepreneur who succeeds can show the next person that their idea is worth pursuing too.
Impact North CEO Alexie Seller told guests that backing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs is one of the most practical ways an organisation can support self-determination and long-term, community-led change.
"When you back one entrepreneur, the impact ripples on," she said. "Their businesses create jobs and income, they innovate and bring new services to their communities, and they create locally led pathways for young people."
For this year's graduates, the support looked different because every business has its own story and its own needs.
Matthew Evans of MS-NT Contracting, which operates across Mparntwe / Alice Springs, Arnhem Land and Central Australia, described the program's coaching as invaluable to the growth of his business.
For Tearna Pearce of Country Home Arts and Weaving in Darwin, it was the yarning-based approach that made the difference. Learning through yarns and having people genuinely believe in her gave her the confidence and support to grow.
That is what culturally informed business development can look like. It does not ask Aboriginal entrepreneurs to leave culture at the door or squeeze themselves into somebody else's idea of success. It meets people where they are and respects the knowledge they already carry.
The seven graduates now join a growing network of Business Builder alumni across the Territory. Their graduation should not be viewed as the end of a program. It should be viewed as an invitation to governments, industry and the wider business community to look at who they procure from, who they partner with and who they are prepared to back.
Celebrating Aboriginal businesses is important. Giving them real work is better.
Expressions of interest are now open for Impact North's 2027 Business Builder cohort. The program is open to established First Nations-owned businesses based in the Northern Territory.
More information is available at impactnorth.org.au/business-builder-program.
