Getting a Seat at the Table is One Thing. Having a Say is Another.

What did it look like before all of that existed?

For By Mob For Mob, an NITV series backed by NRMA Insurance, I’ve been lucky enough to sit down with some incredible Blak business owners and hear about what they’ve built, but more importantly, how they’ve built it. And my yarn with Uncle Michael felt like a bit of a history lesson in the best possible way.

Message Stick started back in 2003, when seeing an Aboriginal owned ICT business working with major government and corporate clients wasn’t exactly the norm.

There weren’t the same pathways we have now. There weren’t as many conversations about Indigenous procurement. And Uncle Michael was often walking into spaces where he was the only Aboriginal person in the room.

What I loved about our conversation was that he didn’t pretend it was easy.

There were barriers. There was racism. There were systems that weren’t built for our mob. But instead of simply learning how to survive those systems, Uncle Michael became part of changing them.

His work went beyond Message Stick and into helping establish Supply Nation, creating greater visibility and opportunities for Indigenous businesses and helping shift the conversation around where government and corporate Australia spend their money.

But he also spoke about the importance of the people around him: the relationships, networks and community that helped him get a seat at the table. It is a reminder that no one builds a business alone, and that backing each other can be just as important as having the right idea or opportunity.

For Uncle Michael, that support has also meant creating space for others. Whether through mentoring, building partnerships or opening doors for other First Nations businesses, he understands that a stronger network benefits everyone in it.

But something really stuck with me from our yarn.

Getting the opportunity is only one part of the story.

Because we can have procurement targets and policies, but if they don’t lead to real contracts, real jobs, sustainable businesses and money flowing back through our communities, then we have to ask what those targets are actually achieving.

There’s a big difference between ticking a box and genuinely backing a Blak business.

And Message Stick has been doing the work for more than two decades.

That longevity was probably one of my biggest takeaways. Business changes. Technology changes. Clients change. Governments change. You have to be able to move with all of that while still knowing who you are and why you started.

I think sometimes we celebrate the beginning of a business, which we absolutely should, but there’s something to be said for still being there 20 years later. Still adapting. Still creating opportunities. Still pushing for something better.

And when you look at Uncle Michael’s work beyond Message Stick, whether it’s procurement, employment, young people or creating pathways into major industries, you realise his idea of success is much bigger than one company.

It is also about what becomes possible when knowledge, contacts and opportunities are shared. A network is not only something that helps you get started; it can help a business keep going, grow with confidence and bring more mob along with it.

That’s what stayed with me.

There are young Blak entrepreneurs starting businesses today who are walking through doors that people like Uncle Michael helped push open. That doesn’t mean the work is finished, far from it, but it does mean the landscape is different because somebody was willing to be first.

For me, that’s what By Mob For Mob is about.

Learning from the people who’ve done the hard yards, taking what they’ve learned and making sure the next generation of mob doesn’t have to start from the same place.

Because getting a seat at the table is one thing.

Having the knowledge, confidence and power to have a say in what happens at that table is something else entirely.