Our research projects contribute to deepening our understanding of the Indigenous business sector from diverse angles.
Dilin Duwa’s research covers three themes: The Indigenous economy, Policy and Indigenous economic empowerment, and Socio-economic and cultural legacies and impacts.
Theme 1: The Indigenous economy
The Indigenous Economic Power Project is a dialogue with key stakeholders including the Australia Bureau of Statistics and Indigenous data custodians on data sharing to produce national Indigenous business and economic dataset with longitudinal Indigenous business statistics to inform the sector and its stakeholders. Key findings are published in the Snapshot report. Snapshot 3.0 is the latest report available with the next edition launching late 2025.
Theme 2: Policy and Indigenous economic empowerment
Work is also underway on the ARC-funded evaluation of the impacts of Indigenous preferential procurement programs (IPPPs) on Indigenous businesses, Indigenous communities, procurers’ operations and outcomes. The Centre has been engaging with government agencies and Indigenous businesses on the project.
Theme 3: Socio-cultural legacies and impact
The Historical Frontier Violence project aims to build data to identify the historical factors that incited frontier violence and the impact of that legacy on communities. Researchers are mapping the frontier, and the qualitative fieldwork is complete. We expect to develop new knowledge on the circumstances and legacy of settlement and the origins of gaps in life prospects between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
In addition to this work, the Centre is also engaged in research on Decolonizing education in business leadership. This research investigates how graduate business schools are working with Indigenous peoples to promote Indigenous business student success in the Indigenous territories of Turtle Island (Canada and the United States), Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Australia.
Director, Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership
Indigenous businesses are vibrant and operate in every sector of the economy. But very little is known about them. Our research will bridge this data gap and provide an understanding of the sector, the levers and its impact.