Beyond Main Street: Franchising Strategies for Indigenous Entrepreneurship in Australia

Abstract

Australia’s Indigenous population faces disparities which tarnish Australia’s image as “the lucky country”: a life expectancy markedly less than non-Indigenous Australians, lower education standards, poorer health, greater unemployment, and the list goes on. Having developed a culture which enabled first Australians to survive, and indeed thrive, for over 60,000 years in all areas of Australia’s massive landmass and challenging climate and conditions, Australia’s original inhabitants have faced their greatest challenge in the form of European invasion and settlement just over 200 years ago. Successive Australian governments have made regrettably little progress in dealing effectively with the challenges faced by Indigenous Australians living within, and alongside, modern Europeanized and increasing Asianized Australia. A massive welfare budget has not resulted in sustained positive outcomes, and there is increasing recognition from Indigenous leadership that there is a need to find a way out of welfare dependency and that economic empowerment is likely to be a more effective strategy. This paper considers the potential role of franchising—albeit not as practiced in Main Street Australia—in supporting Indigenous entrepreneurship.