THE ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART:

“Our youth…should be our hope for the future. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.”

Indigenous youth entrepreneurship.

Young Change Agents, in partnership with proud Larrakia woman Nicole Brown, conducted a multi-stage codesign process over 12 months with over 200 youth and stakeholder voices across country, culture, education and employment. Our aim was to discover if Indigenous youth have an interest in entrepreneurship, what support they feel they need to engage in entrepreneurship and what sorts of ventures they are interested in starting.

We found Indigenous youth play a central role as the future custodians of culture, community and employment opportunity. This is why self-determined entrepreneurship is so critical. Together, we propose six takeaways that decision makers can act on, and six success factors that will set Indigenous youth up to thrive in business.

"There have been many reports published on how to close the gap on disadvantage for our First Nations people. This report, Lighting the Spark, is both different and important. Nicole Brown, a proud Larrakia woman, has worked with Young Change Agents to discover the opinions, aspirations and future plans of Aboriginal youth themselves. At a time a global pandemic has stoked fear and uncertainty the report turns to hope and optimism for future generations of Aboriginal leaders."

The Hon. Michael Gunner, Chief Minister Northern Territory.