Grounded in Culture, Growing Through Enterprise
Indigenous Women Leading New Futures
Some of the most powerful leadership in Australia is rarely described in conventional terms. It is found in women creating opportunity where systems have failed, strengthening families while building enterprises, and carrying culture forward while shaping new economic futures. In 2025, the Menzies Leadership Foundation continued to invest in this leadership through its Indigenous Women’s Entrepreneurship platform — supporting community-led pathways to agency, enterprise and long-term prosperity.
At the centre of this work is a simple but powerful belief: when Indigenous women lead, communities prosper. Their leadership often extends well beyond traditional organisational boundaries, connecting family, culture, enterprise, wellbeing and intergenerational opportunity. Yet despite this contribution, Indigenous women entrepreneurs continue to face structural barriers in access to capital, networks, mentoring and visibility.
The Foundation’s role has been to help back solutions led by women themselves.
A major focus of 2025 was the continued growth and evolution of the Maganda Makers Business Club in the Kimberley. What began several years ago as an emerging support network has matured into a powerful platform for Indigenous women in business — creating space for entrepreneurship, confidence-building, peer support and practical pathways into economic participation.
Throughout the year, momentum continued to build. The annual Lombadina Women’s Camp brought members together on Country for a powerful period of rest, renewal and enterprise development. Women at all stages of the business journey — from first ideas to growing ventures — participated in workshops, storytelling, markets and business pitching events. The camp celebrated not only enterprise, but identity, ambition and collective encouragement.
The spirit of the camp was captured in words shared by Club Patron Aunty Olive “Kankawa Nagarra” Knight, who encouraged participants: “Don’t peck with the chickens when you can soar with the eagles.” It was a message that reflected the confidence and possibility increasingly visible across the network.
Another important milestone in 2025 was the progression of Maganda Makers toward a fully Indigenous-led future. Following a strategic review, Maganda Makers Pty Ltd was incorporated in October 2025, chaired by Natasha Short and governed by Indigenous businesswomen leaders from across the Kimberley. This marked a significant transition from incubated initiative to independent Indigenous-led enterprise platform.
The significance of this step cannot be overstated. It reflects years of capability building, trust and leadership development — and the clear intention that this work be led by and for Indigenous women, with partner organisations such as the Foundation acting as allies and enablers.
Alongside the Kimberley work, the broader Future Weavers initiative continued to strengthen relationships and opportunities in Queensland and the Northern Territory, extending the potential for similar women-led enterprise models in other regions.
The platform also continued to test practical financial mechanisms that support entrepreneurship. Through the Sugar Bag initiative, small loans and grant support helped women strengthen business foundations and progress ideas that can create long-term benefit. One recipient described the support as “an investment in the resilience, creativity and future of the Kimberley and beyond.”
In parallel, the Foundation advanced work exploring longer-term systems solutions, including blended finance models, philanthropic investment pathways and research into the conditions that best enable Indigenous women’s enterprise to thrive. This reflects a broader understanding that entrepreneurship alone is not enough; the surrounding ecosystem must also evolve.
Across all of this work, one truth became increasingly clear: Indigenous women are already leading transformative change. They are building businesses, creating employment, preserving culture, strengthening communities and opening pathways for future generations.
The challenge is not whether leadership exists. It is whether systems are willing to recognise it, invest in it and learn from it.
In 2025, the Foundation continued its commitment to doing exactly that — supporting leadership that is grounded in culture, shaped by community and capable of creating new futures.
Indigenous women are already leading transformative change in Australia — building businesses, creating employment, preserving culture and opening pathways for future generations. The challenge has never been whether this leadership exists. It is whether systems are willing to recognise it, invest in it and learn from it. Through its Indigenous Women’s Entrepreneurship platform, the Menzies Leadership Foundation continued to back solutions led by women themselves — from the growth of Maganda Makers in the Kimberley to the strengthening of Future Weavers across Queensland and the Northern Territory.
The Foundation’s role in this work is one of ally and enabler — walking alongside women and communities as they build the enterprises, networks and ecosystems that create lasting change. If you are committed to leadership that honours culture, invests in community and supports the self-determination of those who have long been overlooked, we invite you to stay connected with the Menzies Leadership Foundation and the work advancing Indigenous women’s leadership in Australia and beyond.
