Real Integrity. Real Impact.
Across Australia, Indigenous businesses are rising, driven by culture, resilience, innovation, and purpose. The businesses featured here have gone through the full IBIR independent verification process, proving not just their Indigenous ownership, but also their operational control, cultural integrity, and community impact.
These stories celebrate the truth-tellers. The ones doing it the right way. The ones building futures for mob, not just profit.
Explore their stories below.
Stories from our verified customers
As a community, we have fought too hard for visibility, recognition, and opportunity to allow those spaces to be diluted. I am proud to stand behind being 100% Aboriginal owned and operated, and proud to support initiatives that protect the authenticity and strength of Indigenous business.
On 30 October 2025, great hopes in the Indigenous business sector were elevated that the end of black cladding was one step closer.
As a proud Mandandanji man and founder of Woollahra Group, being officially verified through the IBIR independent audit process is a deeply meaningful milestone – not just for me, but for our team, our partners, and the communities we serve.
As a proud Whadjuk/Ballardong woman, I’m filled with deep pride and responsibility in sharing that Benang has now been independently verified through the IBIR (Indigenous Business Integrity Register) process.
As Managing Director of EON Protection, I’ve seen first-hand the damage caused by a system that has allowed black cladding, tokenism, and opportunism to thrive – while genuine Aboriginal businesses struggle for recognition, opportunity, and respect. And I am extremely proud to say EON Protection is now independently verified through that very process.
The latest from the Indigenous business sector
We are proud to announce a new partnership with ICN WA, formalised through a Heads of Agreement that will introduce independent, academically reviewed Indigenous business verification into the Aboriginal Business Directory WA (ABDWA), part of the ICN Gateway procurement ecosystem.
Monash University’s Master of Indigenous Business Leadership (MIBL) and the Indigenous Business Integrity Register (IBIR) have formalised a landmark partnership.
On Friday, 5 June 2026, respected Business News journalist Neale Prior reported on a Supreme Court writ filed in Western Australia that may come to be seen as the case that turned the tide for Indigenous businesses struggling to compete in a procurement sector long compromised by black cladding.
Globally recognised business ethics expert, Professor Mayowa Babalola, has used the pages of the Australian Financial Review to ask Corporate Australia a question: why is greenwashing treated as an ethics failure, while Indigenous misrepresentation is still managed as a compliance issue?
When the Commonwealth Government increased its Indigenous procurement target from 2.5% to 3% of all contracts in 2025, it did so to stimulate Indigenous entrepreneurship, business and economic development, providing First Nations people with more opportunities to participate in the economy.
IBIR congratulates its Strategic Advisor, the Hon. Ken Wyatt AM JP, on his appointment as Adjunct Professor of Practice at the University of Western Australia's Public Policy Institute.
In May 2026, The Australian journalist Paige Taylor ran a major investigative piece examining fears of 'cartels' and fraud within Australia's $13.4 billion Indigenous procurement policy - shining a national spotlight on an issue IBIR has been calling out for months.
Since launching Indigenous Business Integrity Register (IBIR) in late 2025, IBIR has listened to community, industry, and the people working hardest to protect the integrity of Indigenous procurement, genuine Indigenous businesses.
Australia’s decade-old Indigenous Procurement Policy has been hailed by both sides of politics as a success in Indigenous economic policy, but new research shows there is room for improvement.
By Dr Christian Eva
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Over the next five years, the federal government plans to buy more from Indigenous businesses, while cracking down on a practice known as “Black cladding”. That’s when non-Indigenous businesses fraudulently exaggerate or falsify Indigenous people’s involvement in their firm to access opportunities meant for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-owned businesses.
By Gaala Watson
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An SBS story published on 3 July 2024 by Greg Wilesmith (Ref: Koolyn was appointed to an electrical company’s board. He wanted to help others, but he was being used) provides a stark reminder of the financial and cultural consequences that can arise when Indigenous identity is exploited for profit.
Across research, young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want connection. They value culture deeply and see it as central to wellbeing, identity and belonging. Yet only 9.5% of us speak an Indigenous language at home (Ref: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare), and many young people say they lack opportunities to learn, lead and participate in cultural life in meaningful or contemporary ways.
