Navigating Unreasonable, Unsustainable and Unjust Financial Practices: Experiences of Indigenous Small Business Owners

Indigenous peoples continue to be underrepresented in small businesses in Australia. The aim of this paper was to explore the financial practices impacting the sustainability of Indigenous small business owners. We sought to find out how Indigenous Australian small business owners sustain their small businesses by exploring the associated financial practices. To achieve this, we conducted 45 interviews with Indigenous small business owners and stakeholders. We analysed the interviews to identify themes and then grouped the themes into three categories: (1) personal, relational and institutional considerations; (2) operational (internal and external) challenges; and (3) development challenges (that hinder business operations). We found unreasonable, unsustainable and/or unjust financial practices across the personal, relational and institutional considerations that Indigenous Australian small business owners face. Based on these findings, we recommend changes to provide government-funded opportunities for Indigenous graduates to offer business training. We also advocate for increased access to funding for Indigenous small businesses and analysis of loan frameworks nationally to identify ways to transform financial practices associated with lending. Our recommendations, if adopted, could help to further strengthen support initiatives that benefit Indigenous Australians.