Fostering Aboriginal entrepreneurship

As 2016 winds to a close, we're thrilled to bring you news of three big milestones!

1) The launch of our new online marketplace, Yunmi

Yunmi is founded on the idea that enterprise can bring people together to create big social change.

‘Yunmi’ means ‘You and Me’ in Kriol - a language that has emerged in northern Australia as a means of communicating across Aboriginal cultures and between English-speakers.

The Aboriginal entrepreneurs creating the products in our marketplace are driving change within their communities across remote Australia. They are creating new jobs, reconnecting young people with country, creating pride and offering their unique culture to the market.

Behind every product is an inspiring story, unique to the culture, knowledge and traditions of that person’s community. By buying from yumni you can share in this rich knowledge, and support the economic empowerment of Aboriginal people in remote Australia.

2) Gulbarn Tea's new packaging and website

Gulbarn Tea is a social enterprise incubated by ELP that aims to increase and promote the social and economic empowerment of the Alawa people. Gulbarn Tea is a uniquely Australian aromatic tea, made from the dried leaves of the melaleuca citrolens plant. It is fast becoming a hit with tea fans across Australia. With the support of ELP, Gulbarn has developed new packaging and created a website to share gulbarn with the world. 

3) ELP's newest venture, Magpie Goose, takes off

Magpie Goose is a fashion venture that creates simple bold fashion pieces from hand screen printed fabric from Aboriginal arts centres in the Top End, in order to foster Aboriginal entrepreneurship in the fashion industry.

We've been busy sourcing fabric from existing social enterprises in four remote communities and have just created our first range of pieces to introduce Magpie Goose to savvy fashionistas across the world. With the facebook page and instagram set up, the next step is to create a website and online store so that we can 

Links:

• ELP's new online marketplace
• Gulbarn Tea's new website is live
• Magpie Goose, a new fashion venture launches

In this report we bring you news of two exciting new products developed with the support of ELP – the 2017 Yarralin Calendar ‘Our Place’ and the Alawa Colouring Book.

‘Our Place’

The 2017 calendar marks ELP’s third collaboration with Yarralin Creative! This year we were able to enlist the expertise of renowned photographer Wayne Quillam to produce a calendar that highlights the circular relationship between the Yarralin mob and their country, and celebrates the recent handback of land to traditional owners.

 Profits from the calendar sales are reinvested back into the community to seed the development of future creative enterprise projects that enable people to build skills, knowledge, and networks to develop their ideas into successful ventures.

The Alawa Colouring Book

Over in Minyerri community, language and culture have been key motivators behind the establishment of Minyerri Arts and Cultural Centre, a community hub fostering culturally-rich enterprise projects. ELP's Sarah Barrow helped to spearhead the creation of the 'Alawa Colouring book' in collaboration with the community.

“Language preservation is a priority for the Minyerri community; Elders know that language strengthens connection to culture and its revival leads to a stronger sense of identity” she explained at the launch.

“It’s a terrible tragedy that over 150 traditional Aboriginal languages have been lost, so it was a privilege to work alongside the community to produce the colouring book." 

The book features Alawa language, local flora and fauna as well as interactive activities to be used as a teaching resource for all ages.

The book was recently launched at the Katherine Public Library coinciding with 2016 Indigenous Literacy Day. Copies of the book can be purchased here:

http://www.elp.org.au/shop/business/minyerri-art-centre/alawa-colouring-book/

Links:

• Here is a link to the video showing the making of the calendar!
• Yarralin land handed back to traditional owners
• Minyerri Arts facebook page