Tiarne Shutt, a Worimi woman from New South Wales' mid north coast has a lifelong connection to Indigenous business.

The 27-year-old spent her early years on Darkinyung country surrounded by family-run, Indigenous-owned businesses.

"I grew up seeing small Indigenous business as just what you did," Ms Shutt said.

"My Mum has run a business for over 25 years, my sister runs a business, my cousins run businesses and for me, entrepreneurship is just in my families blood.

"So I think for me, I've always seen it as the model."

Ms Shutt is using her experience in family-run Indigenous businesses coupled with a background in corporate Australia to effect change for aspirational Indigenous entrepreneurs and businesses in her role as First Australians Capital's business advisory associate director.

After holding corporate positions in communications, stakeholder management, investor relations, property management and environmental sustainability, Ms Shutt said her position at First Australians Capital fit her desire to support Indigenous business.

"I didn't want to run a business so it took me a little bit to find how I could support Indigenous business, which is when First Australians Capital came around," she said.

https://www.nit.com.au/aged-just-21-bek-lasky-is-already-a-driving-force-behind-naarms-indigenous-economic-independence/

"I could see that it was a really strategic way for me to support the growth of the Indigenous economy."

At First Australians Capital, Ms Shutt oversees a team of business advisors who work directly with Indigenous entrepreneurs to enhance self-determination and offer strategic business advice.

This support is combined with a focus on relationships and storytelling, an ethos at the forefront of mind for Ms Shutt and her team.

"When I think about my skills and who I am, my biggest asset is using story to connect people to change," Ms Shutt said.

"So it's about using our ways, Indigenous ways of working, connecting, relating and focusing on the storytelling aspect of a business.

"I think with Indigenous people and Indigenous communities, there's a lot of goodwill and a lot of good intentions, but what really gets people to change their minds is when you can tell a story to change their heart."

Ms Shutt and her team are also passionate about challenging inequalities between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous business sector, disadvantages she has witnessed since her early years in family-run businesses.

"I saw those really insidious systemic inequities between Indigenous business and non-Indigenous businesses through my own experience with my parents," she said.

"The lack of access to capital, networks, resources, knowledge, those kinds of things.

"So it's about identifying those gaps or those skills or those bits and pieces of information that are just not readily shared (with Indigenous people), that if my parents had known would have made their journey in business a lot easier."

Ms Shutt will be discussing the inequalities and disadvantages experienced by Indigenous businesses whilst moderating a discussion at this month's Social Enterprise World Forum.

She will be joined by Indigenous entrepreneurs Clinton Schultz, Rona Glynn-McDonald and Sarah Wolf in a conversation titled addressing the elephant in the room, how to shift power and make space for Indigenous enterprises.

Ms Shutt said the hand dealt to Indigenous businesses needed to be more openly discussed.

"As the social enterprise sector, let's move beyond this baby, juvenile approach to inclusion," she said.

"We often exist in this space, where no one really wants to talk about the elephant in the room, that there are a lot of non-Indigenous businesses, investors and organisations profiting off Indigenous culture, or using Indigenous knowledges inappropriately."

Ms Shutt said the focus of the SEWF conversation will be about identifying an appropriate roadmap to allow Indigenous businesses to thrive and what needs to be addressed by the global business community for this to be achieved.

"So the conversation will be about, how do we move beyond this really juvenile, childlike approach to inclusion with Indigenous people and Indigenous businesses in Australia," said Ms Shutt.

"Because if we keep having the same conversations every year, we're actually not addressing or making a dent in the systemic inequities that face our mob."

The Social Enterprise World Forum will be held at Brisbane's Convention & Exhibition Centre from September 28 to 29.