Applications open for PwC MURRA Boost for Indigenous business
With Indigenous Business Month set for October, PwC has once again launched its MURRA Boost Initiative.
Applications are now open for the sixth edition of the PwC MURRA Boost Initiative, which aims to strengthen Indigenous-led businesses. During the course of October’s Indigenous Business Month – which is this year themed ‘Powering the Indigenous Economy’ – the selected participant will be teamed up with specialists from PwC with support provided to address a specific, growth-focussed business issue to the value of $30,000.
“We’re committed to work together and bring our combined skills to help power up new areas of opportunity for First Nations people and grow the Indigenous business sector,” said PwC CEO Tom Seymour. “We recognise First Nation businesses are more likely to employ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which can help foster further economic development and wealth creation for the benefit of all Australians.”
Inaugurated in 2015, Indigenous Business Month is an initiative of the alumni of Melbourne Business School’s MURRA Indigenous Business Master Class Program – which takes its name from the word for ‘fish net’ in the Woi Wurrung language of the Wurundjeri people of Melbourne. The event aims to bring together members and allies of the Indigenous business community to showcase their economic contributions.
“The visibility of our economic contributions needs to extend past the narrow frame of GDP statistics where the value of goods and services that are traded are counted,” said MURRA program founder Michelle Evans. “In practice, Indigenous businesses provide more than this – they are a major source of innovation, mentorship, leadership, cultural knowledges and practices, community and cultural kinship, unpaid childcare, and volunteer work.”
Amid a record number of applications, last year’s chosen MURRA Boost recipient was NSW-based family-operated business GWS Engineering & Construction, which provides materials and services to the construction and engineering industries. Demonstrating the variety of Indigenous-owned businesses, previous winners have included Kakadu Aboriginal clothing and arts store Tiny Tots, and BlackCard, a cultural consultancy out of Queensland.
“Working with PwC has created opportunities for us to scale and increase our impact both quickly and sustainably, developing our resilience as a business,” said BlackCard founder Mundanara Bayles on her experience. “The mentoring and business development to ensure BlackCard was able to pivot our business model to a digital environment was of great value, and the authenticity and skills of the PwC team was absolutely amazing.”
Open to any majority-owned Indigenous business, applications for this year’s MURRA Boost close on the 4th of October, with a virtual awards night scheduled for later that month. “The PwC Murra Boost partnership is vital to enabling Indigenous entrepreneurs to face these challenges while expanding their capacity,” Evans concluded. “We encourage all businesses that are facing a specific challenge to their business growth or capacity to apply.”
