Dawn Houle, President and founder of SunSinger Consulting, a DC-based Native American woman-owned company, has dedicated her life to fostering strategic partnerships for and with Native American Tribes, artists, business owners and people.

She recently visited Boorloo/Perth and spoke at the First Nations House summit.

Ms Houle, of the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Montana, specialises in economic development and policy work, as well as strategic planning, all to empower and uplift First Nations businesses.

"I am here in Australia to help spread the message about empowering indigenous businesses globally and domestically," she said.

"I would say the single most important mind shift is actually to believe in yourself and the power of the individual is really critical. And I also believe in planning. So one of the things as a startup entrepreneur you can do, and I do highlight this in my book, is use an actual pen and paper and jot out what you can control and what you cannot control. And some of those things that you can control. Is the name of your business, registering your business... do those tiny steps forward and then ask questions."

Ms Houle told National Indigenous Times that aspiring indigenous businesspeople need to be prepared to reach out to those who have come before them.

"Building your network and asking for help or introductions is truly a asset that can build your business and grow really fast. Some of the unique challenges to to us is our connections, our lack of (business) connections. In America, we've only had less than 50 years to really, truly do economic development like the rest of the world has, and so when you call a corporation, you don't have connections there," she said.

"Maybe we do now, not like our non-Indian counterparts, that their dad, their uncle, their brother, their mom, all worked for. You know, pick a corporation that doesn't necessarily exist in native communities. And so we're already on our appeal, trying to get into the world of who's the who and who's the what, and all of those connections.

"I think we need to create our own path of connections, just like what First Nations X is doing - just that power of connection, because it is so new to us. 50 years may not sound like a lot, but 50 years is a lifetime, when you've you're so far behind what others have already accomplished and made a tonne of money off of our communities."

Ms Houle also noted the importance of data sovereignty.

"I mentioned that as far as trade trademarks and copyrights, of protecting our intellectual property, as well as our creative property, and our DNA as who we are, as people, and having that platform and that method of protection is just critical," she said.

"So there is a chapter in my book actually titled indigenuity. And as natives, we've been creative and using ingenuity for millennia and one of the key items, are the resources that are available to us, like the silver fox earrings that I'm wearing, made by indigenous artists out of Alaska. And being creative enough to know how to fully use an animal, not only to feed us, to sustain our communities, but as a as a economic development engine, to create beautiful things that now we can maybe share with the world.

"So, using that indigenuity of creating new, beautiful things, we're sitting here in Perth on the coast, you know, how do you create wave generation for renewable energy? How do you do carbon offset with sea kelp? Tribes have been doing all this economic or traditional ecological knowledge and lessons forever, and really using our knowledge to advance the different issues that are affecting our communities is powerful."

Ms Houle said what excites her most about First Nation House is "the collaborations, the potential collaborations, and... the allies that are here who truly want to empower our communities".

"And they (the allies) are coming from a place of sincerity and not a place of extraction. We're always so, at least in the United States, we're always fearful of those that want to be involved in our communities. It's not always from a place of sincerity. But the audience here and the people here all genuinely are sincere in their intents of creating economic engines that sustain our communities," she said.