Every October, Indigenous Business Month shines a light on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses that create jobs, strengthen communities, and redefine what success looks like. This year marks the 12th Indigenous Business Month, and we are proud to celebrate the First Nations-led B Corps that are part of our community in Australia.
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A month to celebrate Indigenous business
Indigenous Business Month was established in 2015 by three First Nations women, all alumni of Melbourne Business School’s MURRA Indigenous Business Master Class Program. Its co-founders, Dr Michelle Evans, Leesa Watego, and Mayrah Sonter see business as a vehicle for self-determination.
Held from 1 to 31 October each year, the initiative showcases Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, provides positive role models for young Indigenous Australians, and encourages conversations about economic self-determination and Indigenous business leadership. The 2026 theme is Local and Connected, celebrating exceptional leadership, ingenuity, and collaborative spirit across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander enterprises. It asks us to look around our own neighbourhoods: whose Country are we on, which Indigenous businesses operate here, and how we can connect with them. It recognises that business success can support families, create local opportunities, and keep value circulating within communities — reminding us that business happens on Country and in community, and of the importance of building strong relationships to sustain us.
The B Corp behind the campaign: 33 Creative
For 33 Creative, supporting this year’s campaign is a full-circle moment. Co-founder and Director Mayrah Sonter (Wiradjuri) helped start the campaign in 2015, just a year after she founded the agency with Georgia Cordukes (non-Indigenous). Today, the pair work at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, engagement, and events. The agency is driven by a belief in “the power of positive messages, constructive communication, and ethical intentions,” working with First Nations people and communities to tell stories that reflect their experiences, strengths, and aspirations. They listen first and ensure people have a say in how their stories are told, whether that be through campaigns, film, media, or events. All of this is done with a simple aim: to help people connect with the story, reconsider assumptions, and feel encouraged to act.
Meet the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led B Corps
From fashion and finance to engineering and aerospace, these businesses show the breadth of Indigenous enterprise in the B Corp community. Each one is verified as meeting standards for social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Clothing the Gaps
Clothing the Gaps is an Aboriginal social enterprise on Wurundjeri Country in Brunswick, Victoria. It creates “merch with a message” that aims to unite people through fashion and a cause for action. By encouraging people to wear their values, they build momentum for social change. The company was founded in 2019 by Laura Thompson (Gunditjmara) and Sarah Sherry (non-Indigenous) and has grown into a powerful platform for education and campaigns, from Free The Flag to Not A Date To Celebrate. At its core, Clothing The Gaps embeds the values of elevating, educating, advocating, and motivating people for positive social change.
Together Business Australia
Together Business Australia is a Chartered Accounting firm in the Northern Territory, committed to financial services that promote financial literacy. The team works in long-term relationships, in a hands-on system built for Indigenous businesses. Its education arm, Together Academy, provides business crisis support to Indigenous enterprises across Australia, regardless of legal structure, size, or sector. It equips people with the knowledge and skills to make informed financial decisions. Together Academy has set up the Indigenous Business Resilience Fund to help businesses reach their potential, recognising that Indigenous businesses are at the heart of strong communities.
Ekistica
Based in Central Australia, Ekistica is an advisory and technical consultancy focused on remote area infrastructure, providing informed and innovative solutions. Established in 2007, it works with governments, power utilities, community services organisations and investors across Australia and the Pacific, including Fiji, Kiribati, Palau, Papua New Guinea, and Tuvalu, as well as Cambodia. Ekistica holds strength in its unique understanding of challenges associated with developing and building infrastructure in remote and regional communities, and has been recognised in numerous engineering excellence awards, including the prestigious Sir William Hudson Award for Engineering Excellence in 2011 from Engineers Australia.
Carbon Creative
Carbon Creative was founded in 2006 by Wayne Denning (Birri and Guugu Yimidhirr) and is a proudly First Nations-owned social change creative agency in Queensland. Combining advertising, design, and PR, they partner with not-for-profits, businesses, and government to drive positive impact across Australia. The theme Local and Connected is at the heart of to their approach, grounding every project in First Nations collaboration — from casting local talent and engaging artists to tell stories, to utilising translation services to ensure important messages reach communities. They measure success by their positive contribution to communities. Recent work includes this year’s National Reconciliation Week campaign, ‘All In’, and the ‘Embrace Your Place’ campaign promoting Traditional Place names for Australia Post.
Indigenous Connection
Indigenous Connection is a digital marketplace that connects Cultural Knowledge Providers with Cultural Knowledge Seekers, building paid, consent-governed relationships. Born in 2016 and based in the Northern Territory, it is dedicated to reducing poverty by creating cultural economic inclusion. “Ten years ago, we asked Senior leaders of land and lore: “What’s important to you? Ever since, the answer has become our purpose: to create Country, cultural, human, community and economic wellbeing through every project,” says Brad Martin, Managing Director. In practice, their Cultural Knowledge Providers on Country join project teams to share their unique and valuable place-based knowledge, creating partnerships between clients and Country, culture, people, and community. As part of their work, Indigenous Connection has also created Cultural Market Systems Development, an applied research methodology for reading how the market around cultural knowledge and Country-based services actually works. Their ambition is to normalise cultural economic participation and rethink market systems design to create cultural economic inclusion, reconcile institutional relationships, and Close the Gap.
Gunggandji Aerospace
Gunggandji Aerospace, founded by Daniel Joinbee (Gunggandji), is a 100% Aboriginal and veteran-owned business in Queensland, providing trusted sovereign capability to aviation, aerospace, government, and critical infrastructure. Its ecosystem is grounded in the beliefs of “strength, resilience, and creating pathways forward, values reflected in the Yalma (ceremonial cross boomerang) at the centre of our identity.” The organisation also supports workforce innovation and the Gunggandji Aerospace Foundation, which builds aspiration, self-determination, and opportunity for young First Nations people. Its program Raising Horizons connects young people with aviation, aerospace, and other future-focused industries through practical experience and industry engagement, and was recognised as the Diversity Initiative Program of the Year at the 2025 Australian Space Awards.
Strengthen support throughout the year
Indigenous Business Month is a reminder that supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses is a powerful way to support self-determination and keep value flowing in communities. To participate year-round, you can:
- Act: Buy from and partner with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned businesses, including the B Corps above or their favourite Indigenous-owned businesses below
- Read: The B Corp Playbook for Reconciliation, developed by the B Corp Reconciliation Action Group
- Listen: Not a Date to Celebrate and the Role of Business, with Clothing the Gaps
