Supply Nation's new chief executive Kate Russell says the rise in First Nations businesses in the last 10 years has been nothing short of phenomenal but fledging Indigenous companies still face significant barriers.

The proud Awabakal woman, who recently replaced interim chief executive Michelle Deshong, said despite only being in the top job a few weeks she is keen to tackle the age-old issue of access to capital for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

"Our entrepreneurs continue to face significant barriers to establishing a successful business, including difficulty in attracting low-cost finance, building a customer base, winning contracts or establishing links with reliable suppliers," she told the National Indigenous Times.

"I see helping our mob overcome these barriers as a fundamental and ongoing challenge of my role.

"One thing that has become apparent to me over the last few weeks is that we need to be supporting the diversity of our suppliers – from a mum and dad operating out of a garage, to a bi-coastal organisation with its own philanthropic fund.

"Both ends of the spectrum and everything in between have challenges, and we need to offer them our support."

A board director of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Ms Russell said First Nations businesses still don't get some of the recognition they deserve when it comes to contributing to Australia's national economy.

It's estimated Indigenous companies pour around $5 billion into the nation's coffers each year.

"I think recognition of how our businesses contribute to the national economy is growing," Ms Russell said.

"Any one of the thousands of people who attended our Connect 23 trade show or Supplier Diversity Awards would be in no doubt as to the strength and growth of the First Nations economy.

"This success is in spite of the unique set of challenges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face –, including historical and institutionalised inequities, limited access to the market and complex social stratification."

Ms Russell said the Federal Government's Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) had enabled a tremendous growth in the First Nations business sector, but the policy could be refined and improved.

Under the current federal IPP, three per cent of all contracts, and 1.75 per cent of the value of all contracts, must be awarded to businesses that qualify as First Nation businesses.

Since the IPP was introduced in 2015, around $1.6 billion has been awarded to Indigenous companies.

"Supply Nation has long advocated for and supports additional measures to protect the integrity of the Indigenous business sector and will continue to work with the Government to implement and deliver on any amendments to the IPP," Ms Russell said.

"Currently, there are many voices calling for a review of the IPP, and I'm confident that when Minister Burney explores the matter, she'll do so in a culturally appropriate way – through conversation, collaboration and community consultation."

Ms Russell also dismissed claims by some First Nations businesses that Supply Nation could do more to stamp out so-called "black cladding".

Black cladding is when non-Indigenous companies boost their Indigenous shareholder base or claim to be First Nation businesses in a bid to win government contracts.

As Supply Nation is an organisation that certifies and audits Indigenous businesses it has the power to remove companies from their directory if they are not 51 percent Indigenous owned, managed and controlled.

A Federal Parliamentary report on Indigenous Employment and Business in September 2021, recommended Supply Nation refine its criteria for an Aboriginal business to help prevent black cladding.

"Supply Nation takes black cladding very seriously and we have very stringent certification processes and annual audits of businesses," Ms Russell said.

"Where we become aware of black cladding, we take action to remove companies from our directory, but we need to keep this in context.

"There are more than 4300 businesses in our directory. In the past year, we've removed over 250 businesses from our database for criteria non-compliance, including insufficient Indigenous ownership."