Indigenous Business Development
Contact First takes pride in the successes it has achieved to date of working with Indigenous people looking to establish successful financial viable business enterprises. Over the past 4 years, some 30 Indigenous businesses have been assisted. Principal, Melanie Lavelle-Maloney is an Indigenous woman of the Bundjalung peoples of Northern NSW. Rod Richards’ country is Gippsland in Victoria.
Contact First’s key objectives to working with both potential Indigenous business owners and existing business owners is ensuring that the Business Development Programs they have devised are primarily culturally appropriate and utilise a wholistic approach throughout the client/consultant engagement process. Both Melanie and Rod assist clients to be ‘business ready’ and to develop clients business skills further by the transfer of skills from them to their clients.
Together Melanie and Rod have over 40 years ‘real time’ business experience of successfully owning, managing and running successful business enterprises within Australia and Overseas. They are proud of the fact that all Indigenous Businesses they have worked with todate, have been successful at obtaining either private or government finance to support their business development.
Contact First provides a variety of programs to assist Indigenous business owners develop successful business enterprises. These programs include: Facilitation of Business & Marketing Plans, conducting Feasibility Studies, Mentoring & Coaching, Training & Facilitation, Business Development Workshops, Advice/Assistance on Business Growth, Advice/Assistance on Buying/Selling Business, Project Management, Community Engagement & Facilitation.
Contact First is a Business Consultant to Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) Business Support Program and to the Department of Education & Employment Work Relations (DEEWR) Economic Development Business Support Program. These two programs are federally funded and aim to facilitate the process for creating opportunities for Indigenous Australians to own/manage and operate their own business enterprises. Contact First operates nationally working with Indigenous individuals and communities throughout Australia.
