At the World Indigenous Business Forum in Naarm, women from New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Canada outlined how Indigenous enterprises are being built from necessity, culture and collaboration.
The Thursday morning session, Indigenous Women in Business: Pioneers of Progress, brought together leaders whose businesses bridge commerce and community. Each speaker demonstrated how Indigenous women are applying practical, locally grounded approaches to enterprise, redefining success in terms of visibility, sustainability and shared prosperity.
New Caledonia: Building a Voice Online
For Christiane Waneissi, a Kanak entrepreneur from Lifou Island in New Caledonia, business began as a way to be heard.
"I am a Kanak entrepreneur from my beautiful Lifou Island," she said.
"I started my marketplace in 2020 to enhance the Kanak women's presence online. This is my mission, to export and display our traditional know-how and crafts on a global stage."
Waneissi founded PacifikMarket.NC during the pandemic after a career in the mining sector. With limited capital and a domestic market of around 270,000 people, she relied on digital tools and social media to connect Kanak women with international buyers.
"When you set up a business from a small island like Lifou ... you have to be audacious," she said.
She also spoke about navigating the male-dominated technology sector.
"I was the only Kanak woman," she said.
"French Tech is very dynamic, but it's for men. I have no choice. I just struggle every day."
Her long-term goal is to link women across Melanesia, from Vanuatu to Tahiti, and strengthen their visibility on global stages.
"Women in Melanesia are the present change-makers," she said.
"Entrepreneurship can drive change for our communities, our islands, and our environment."
Waneissi's work is also an act of cultural restoration. By embedding traditional Kanak motifs into her fashion designs, she uses commerce to preserve identity.
"I came with my Elders and my spirit," she said. "We show our faces and bring our customs to the world."
Papua New Guinea: The Case for Social Enterprise
From Port Moresby, Linda Paru, Founder and CEO of PNG Indigenous Women Entrepreneurs Connect, addressed structural reform. Her organisation, which connects women across every province of Papua New Guinea, has become a national platform for training, advocacy and enterprise development.
"The organisation that I run is a social enterprise," she said.
"In Papua New Guinea there is no social-enterprise registration structure. It has taken me 12 years to convince the authorities that the social enterprise is the way to go."
Paru has been working with the United Nations and the British High Commission to secure cabinet endorsement for a new legal framework recognising social enterprise as a formal business category. She said that her network now includes more than 300,000 members, most based in rural communities.
"It is incredibly hard to be an Indigenous woman entrepreneur without having a home to operate from," she said.
"Adequate housing, access to phones, digital networks and health infrastructure are essential."
To generate community income, Paru initiated a recycling program in partnership with Coca-Cola Bottlers PNG.
"We do two things, clean the environment and put money in people's pockets," she said.
The program mobilises families in informal settlements to collect PET bottles for cash payment, turning environmental waste into income.
Her next priority is financial independence for women.
"We will be the first to launch Women in Superannuation in Papua New Guinea," she said.
The scheme, she explained, is aimed at informal-sector workers who are often excluded from retirement savings.
"By December we will also launch the first membership-based Medicare program for women."
For Paru, leadership means persistence.
"Transformational leaders create a shared vision, build trust and empower others," she said.
"If the answer is no, do not take it as no. Approach it in another way."
She also urged governments and corporations to understand the value of Indigenous entrepreneurship.
"When you invest in Indigenous businesses, the social benefit is almost four times greater than the initial input," she said.
"It's not just about products and services, it's about knowledge, reciprocity and systems that recognise Indigenous intellectual property."
Australia: Business Rooted in Culture
Nyoka Morgan, a Yorta Yorta woman from Victoria, is the founder of NYYANI Life Coaching Agency and co-founder of Paradigm Entertainment. She spoke about building enterprises that respond to social need and cultural responsibility.
"My cultural wisdom isn't something I add to my work, it's the foundation of my work," she said.
"Everything I create, lead and build is guided by cultural values that centre responsibility and collective growth."
Her life-coaching agency supports Aboriginal families through early-intervention programs aimed at preventing children from entering the care system.
"We have 24,000 Aboriginal children in care. It costs $2.6 billion a year to keep those children with strangers. Imagine if that money went to the front end to keep families together," she said.
Through NYYANI, Morgan reinvests profits into mentoring programs and youth initiatives that strengthen connection to culture.
"Our culture is not a charity. It is capability, creativity and leadership," she said.
She also highlighted the growth of Indigenous women in enterprise.
"Across Australia today we have 10,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women running businesses, about 36 per cent of our Indigenous business sector," she said.
"We are entering mainstream supply chains, exports and leadership roles."
Morgan's businesses, she said, are driven by collaboration.
"True collaboration starts with the relationship. It is not just about transactions."
She also acknowledged the support of Western Australian partners and community organisations working alongside her team to expand opportunities for Aboriginal women.
Canada: Technology with Tradition
From Ontario, Gail Chamberlain, founder of Original Traders Inc, described how she combined modern technology with Indigenous craftsmanship to reach new markets.
"I had this idea that I would combine technology and innovation to create traditional products," she said.
Her company uses fibre lasers, laser cutters, UV printers and industrial embroidery machines produced by German manufacturer ZSK Stickmaschinen to create contemporary accessories featuring First Nations designs.
Her use of technology initially divided opinion.
"When I said I could bead earrings with a machine in ten minutes, it was hurtful to them," she said of her conversations with artisans.
"I had to think about my impact. Did I want to harm artisans who work diligently with their hands?"
She adjusted her model to blend hand-beading with machine embroidery, producing hybrid designs that preserve artistry while meeting retail demand.
"My market is not to compete with hand-made products," she said.
"It's to supply retailers and tourist stores that want authentic Indigenous goods."
Chamberlain also shared a lesson in persistence. When her embroidery machine broke, she dismantled and rebuilt it herself.
"When we have an idea, no matter the hurdles, we persevere and make it work," she said.
Her company now supplies accessories to retailers across Canada and provides workshops for Indigenous youth on digital design and manufacturing.
"If you show someone a new technology they have never touched, adaptability is fast," she said. "Innovation belongs to us too."
Shared Purpose
Across four nations, the speakers presented different models for progress and a shared understanding that Indigenous business is not simply about profit. It is about participation, sustainability and the transfer of knowledge.
Waneissi spoke of visibility for Melanesian women, Paru of structural reform, Morgan of family strength and cultural continuity, and Chamberlain of innovation rooted in identity.
Together, they showed how Indigenous women are expanding economic opportunity while safeguarding cultural values.
As Paru concluded: "More than ever before, we are creating opportunities to come together across organisations, sectors and countries and empower a collective purpose to address social and environmental issues."
