Indigenous women across the Kimberley — and increasingly across Northern Australia — are not just building businesses. They are building futures.
A powerful transformation is underway, led by Indigenous women themselves: women redefining what economic participation, leadership, and community strength look like on Country.
Since 2020, the Menzies Leadership Foundation has been honoured to walk alongside this movement. In partnership with Kimberley Jiyigas and Good Return, we helped seed what would become the Maganda Makers Business Club — a culturally grounded platform enabling Indigenous women to grow enterprises that strengthen family, community and culture. More than 140 women have since accessed peer networks, mentoring, business navigation, and capital pathways including Sugarbag micro-grants and NILS loans.
Today, the movement reaches a significant milestone with the transition to Maganda Makers Ltd — an Indigenous-led, Aboriginal-controlled organisation. As part of this next chapter, Liz Gillies, CEO of the Menzies Leadership Foundation, is delighted to join the inaugural Board, supporting a leadership team grounded in deep cultural authority and regional experience.
“It is a privilege to stand with Maganda Makers at this milestone. I am honoured to join the Board and to continue supporting this movement as it steps into its next chapter — one that will shape not just local futures, but the future of leadership across Northern Australia.” – Liz Gillies
This evolution not only strengthens the Kimberley but also anchors the broader vision Maganda Makers helped ignite: the Future Weavers movement, a growing network of Indigenous women entrepreneurs across Northern Australia.
From a Local Idea to a Northern Australian Network
The spark was simple and profound. As founder Natasha Short says:
“You can’t be what you can’t see.”
Maganda Makers created safe, relational spaces — Yarning Circles, on-Country camps, peer mentoring, and place-based support — where women could build confidence and explore entrepreneurship on their own terms.
In 2023, learning exchanges across the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland revealed shared priorities: connection, confidence, local leadership and culturally grounded business support. This led to the emergence of Future Weavers, a platform connecting women’s groups across Northern Australia to strengthen enterprise pathways and leadership ecosystems.
What Maganda Makers Has Demonstrated
1. Indigenous women’s leadership is rising.
Women report stronger community voice, increased household respect, and growing public recognition.
2. Entrepreneurship is a culturally safe and viable pathway.
Women are progressing from aspiring entrepreneurs to side-hustlers to fully self-employed operators — with self-employed women reporting the highest confidence and agency.
3. Peer-led, place-based support works.
Dozens of Yarning Circles and camps across 2025 show sustained demand for relational, culturally grounded support structures.
4. Trust-based capital unlocks opportunity.
All Sugarbag micro-grants were successfully acquitted. NILS loans and the Tomorrow Fund are expanding investment readiness.
5. Local Indigenous leadership is the key success factor.
Trials across Northern Australia confirmed that strong local leadership is essential to sustainable impact.
Why Maganda Makers Ltd Matters
A strategic review this year confirmed that the next phase requires an Indigenous-governed organisation capable of directing its own future, growing capital pathways, and strengthening its cultural authority.
Maganda Makers Ltd now launches with:
- a majority-Indigenous Board, chaired by Natasha Short
- Liz Gillies, Menzies Leadership Foundation CEO, joining as a Director
- a sustainability strategy and evaluation framework
- strong partnerships across WA, NT and FNQ
- national philanthropic interest
For the Menzies Leadership Foundation, this transition reflects our role as an ally organisation — serving as “dissolvable scaffolding,” supporting Indigenous leadership to grow, and stepping back as governance shifts to community control.
The Menzies Leadership Foundation’s Role Ahead
The Foundation will continue to contribute in four key ways:
- Sustained Funding & Stability
Supporting the establishment of Maganda Makers Ltd and long-term funding pathways.
2. Systems Leadership & Network Activation
Strengthening the Future Weavers network and connecting Kimberley leadership with national partners, funders and policymakers.
3. Thought Leadership & Policy Influence
Championing Indigenous women’s economic empowerment through orations, convenings, storytelling and strategic publications.
4. Visibility & National Narrative Shift
Sharing the stories and leadership of Indigenous women entrepreneurs to shift national narratives from deficit to capability.
A Model for Australia’s Future
Maganda Makers demonstrates what becomes possible when Indigenous women lead, communities set the agenda, philanthropy acts as a partner rather than a director, economic participation strengthens cultural wellbeing, and leadership is shaped through relational, collective and place-based practice. As one participant shared, “Business is not about competing — it’s about caring for each other.” This is the kind of leadership Australia needs.
The Menzies Leadership Foundation is deeply proud to continue supporting Maganda Makers as it steps into independence and to help grow the Future Weavers movement across Northern Australia. This is one of the most significant Indigenous women’s leadership initiatives in the country — a powerful model of community-led systems change shaping families, communities, economies and leadership for generations.
Australia’s leadership future is being shaped on Country — by Indigenous women redefining enterprise, governance and community strength.
In the Kimberley and across Northern Australia, women are not just participating in the economy; they are leading systems of care, culture and capability that strengthen families and futures.
Through its partnership with Maganda Makers and the emerging Future Weavers movement, the Menzies Leadership Foundation is proud to walk alongside Indigenous women as an ally — supporting leadership that is relational, place-based and grounded in deep cultural authority.
If you are committed to leadership that is community-led, ethically grounded and capable of shaping Australia’s future, we invite you to stay connected with the Menzies Leadership Foundation and the work advancing Indigenous women’s leadership across Northern Australia.
