SOCIETY AND CULTURE Empowering First Nation small business owners in Australia

First Australians Capital (FAC), a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned small businesses in Australia, has worked to bridge the economic gap for this community,¹ recognizing entrepreneurship as a pathway to financial independence.

“First Australians Capital started largely because Aboriginal people in Australia had been both legislatively and structurally excluded from participating in the economy,” said Jocelyn King, co-founder and chairperson of FAC, and a proud Aboriginal woman born and raised on the lands of the Gadigal people.

The need for FAC’s work is critical — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians face systemic barriers to business growth, with a median annual income of just ~30,000 AUD, roughly half that of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.² Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander enterprises have historically faced challenges due to lack of collateral and limited networks. FAC continues to scale its impact, ensuring Indigenous businesses can thrive and contribute to Australia’s broader economy.

“We've worked with 800 businesses in the last eight years,” said King. Here, we chat with King about Visa Foundation’s support of FAC, the barriers First Nations face in Australia and her idea of success.

First Australians Capital is the first of its kind in the country. What inspired you and your co-founders to build it?

King: In the mid-2000s, when Supply Nation — a non-profit that connects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses with corporate, government and not-for-profit partners — began, we found that many of the businesses were given opportunities to supply to large corporations in Australia, but they just didn't have the capital to execute on some of those large deals. We began to work within existing systems to see what the barriers were. We began to see what was stopping the businesses in our communities from accessing finance. For example, for First Nations people in Australia, our money spending character is very different from non- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Our money's communal, so if you are sending money across to various people, that poses its own set of challenges to showcase the financing strength of these small businesses. By creating First Australians Capital, we were endeavoring to offer solutions that can help them grow and scale.

How does FAC execute their risk profile to help support this Australian community?

King: We are very aligned with mainstream due diligence processes; however, we don’t rely on AI decisioning to help us make decisions around small businesses. All our checks are manual, which enables us to question some of the things that might come up as red flags. We’re a relationship-based lender. We help them with their business planning in a lot of cases. We have some really good software in the background that connects to their accounting system so that we can talk through the challenges as the business grows.

How do you engage with Indigenous communities to understand their specific business and financial needs?

King: Mostly, it's word of mouth. We are a very small community. There's only about 500,000 of us of working age in Australia. If we're not connected to the community, then there's someone in our network who is connected to that particular community. We never do any sort of advertising. People come to us. But we also understand some of the setbacks. For example, the Mabo decision in the 1980s, which saw recognition of the traditional title of Aboriginal people, was legislated under the Native Title Act, but that act only gives us the right to hunt, gather and fish on our lands. It doesn't actually give us any economic rights. You might have 10,000 hectares as an Aboriginal group, but it's not fungible. You compound that for First Nations people with the structural barriers that they have historically faced in accessing capital — that’s another reason why we saw this gap in the market and wanted to provide a solution.

How are you working with Visa Foundation?

King: Visa Foundation is an investor in our Catalytic Impact Fund, which is amazing. It's been difficult to raise capital for a fund because we're an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organization doing things a little bit differently. Largely, our investors are philanthropic-based, like Visa Foundation, which has contributed $2 million AUD to our Impact Fund. We've got $18.5 million AUD under management, so it's a significant investment, and it gives others confidence. The strength of Visa Foundation's reputation really does help to bring others on the journey.

What are your long-term goals for FAC?

King: We have a 10-year radical possibilities strategy, but as the chairperson, I'd like to say that we really want to ensure everyone can participate in our economy. For example, over the past year, FAC has supported more than 310 businesses and more than 1460 jobs, which has roughly translated into an estimated $214 million AUD in revenue generated by these businesses. We would like to demonstrate that supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs means that economies can be more sustainable and successful in the long-term.

How do you feel about the overall impact you're making?

King: I’m definitely proud of where we are, acknowledge that there's still a lot more work to do, and we will continue to do that work alongside our partners. So, thanks to Visa Foundation. I think the work would be a lot harder without the people who believe in the mission and invest in it. We still have a long way to go, so the sleeves are definitely rolled up.

Learn more about Visa Foundation and more about First Australians Capital.

1. Indigenous peoples in Australia are referred with the term ‘Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander People’. They are descendants of a population who have inhabited the country for over 60,000 years, well before the British colonization in the 18th century.
2. Based on data shared on Australian Government data and statistics at: Indigenous income and finance — Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (aihw.gov.au)