| Summary: | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a long and rich history of enterprise that dates to long before European contact. Today, through resilience and ingenuity, Indigenous businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of the Australian economy and one of the most rapidly expanding providers of employment. Indigenous individuals are achieving these results in spite of the ways that the laws imposed through colonisation placed, and continued to place, First Nations peoples at a profound disadvantage in maintaining economic self-determination. Although law reform in this area is essential, progress is slow and there is often a perception that little can be done by individuals – especially non-Indigenous legal practitioners and businesspeople – until the reform takes place. There are, however, more immediately available options. Using examples, this article advocates for more systematic research into the capacity of existing laws and commercial legal tools to better strengthen First Nations entrepreneurship in Australia while simultaneously supporting Indigenous businesspeople to achieve success not only economically but also in ways that are culturally relevant to themselves and their communities. Importantly, these structures, processes and mechanisms comprise tools to be deployed by non-Indigenous as well as First Nations legal practitioners and businesspeople.
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