How SMEs can work toward reconciliation

indigenous businesses, fastest-growing

The 13th of February marked the 14th Anniversary of National Apology Day. On this day back in 2008, on behalf of the Federal Government, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd publicly apologised to the Stolen Generations – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by successive colonial and Australian governments.

All party politics aside, this was one of the most significant speeches delivered in Australia’s Parliament House. During and after National Apology Day I began to turn my mind to Reconciliation. I wondered what I can do as a small-business owner to create greater awareness, contribute to the advancement of First Nations People, and ultimately develop a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in a meaningful way (and not as a box-ticking exercise).

Myth: A small business developing a RAP, isn’t that just for big companies that have plentiful resources to do it?

This is a myth that I believed, at least in part, when employed by a multi-billion dollar company. Now, as a small-business owner, I have started to challenge that way of thinking and research how to get it done. Previously in Inside Small Business, I wrote about the tremendous power the 2.4m SMEs, Australia’s largest employer, has when their efforts are combined. This is most certainly the case when comes to Reconciliation.

I commenced my research by reaching out to Shona Reid, CEO of Reconciliation South Australia, and asked if SMEs can team up and develop a RAP as a combined effort to which she responded, “RAPs are reserved for individual organisations and cannot be done jointly. That being the case it doesn’t mean that each business shouldn’t/couldn’t develop one and deliver it in an impactful and meaningful way.”

Shona suggested that SMEs can undertake some very simple actions which can lead to a sizable impact. Hiring a First Nations person not only helps that person individually but also flows through to supporting a household, improves their standard of living, improves their opportunities, improves the chance of education, and so on. Further, sourcing and preferencing First Nations companies in your supply chain can achieve a significant impact and potentially without any additional effort or expense. Organisations such as Supply Nation exist to showcase Indigenous business operators in the market and hope to develop a prosperous, vibrant, and sustainable sector.

The next call I made was to Peter Morris, General Manager of RAPs at Reconciliation Australia. Peter was intrigued by my interest as a small-business owner. He indicated that more RAPs were launched in the Reflect stage in the last 12 months than the total number of RAPs in existence pre-COVID. This is very encouraging. There are now over 2200 RAPs registered with Reconciliation Australia. Peter suggested that SMEs shouldn’t be asking themselves, “Is a RAP doable?” but rather, “What does a RAP look like in my business/industry?”

Peter indicated that Reconciliation Australia is working on improving technology to make the review and acceptance of RAPs more streamlined. Currently, due to being a very manual process, the time involved with processing a RAP application for a $1 million business is not too different than it is for a $10m business. Applications costs range from $250 (annual revenue <$1m) to $1500 ($10m+ annual revenue) which is certainly not too prohibitive for SMEs. He was certainly buoyed by the prospect of a big influx of RAP applications from SMEs and suggested that Reconciliation Australia is willing to connect SMEs with individuals and organisations who have a RAP in place that can provide insights and guidance on how best to approach it. Peter explained that in recent years, “even companies that are fierce competitors ‘lowered their guns’ and provided help to one another which he found extremely encouraging”. During a work function, I spoke with Terence Jeyaretnam, Partner EY and EY’s Reconciliation Leader who noted that while targets and expectations are significant for a mature RAP developed by an organisation such as EY, Reconciliation Australia works with organisations to ensure their commitments match their size and scale.

I look forward to updating Inside Small Business readers on the progress I make with constructing the RAP for my business Haven Wealth Partners, and I encourage all SME owners to take the first steps in putting together their own Reconciliation Action Plan and embarking on this journey.