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Cape York Corporation works with its operating organisation, Balkanu, to generate an awareness of business opportunities on the Cape, giving support to budding Cape York entrepreneurs and facilitates viable business ventures. The Business Development arm provides supports for development of small and medium businesses in Cape York through activities such as offering advisory support to emerging Cape York entrepreneurs through mentoring, business workshops, mentoring programs, feasibility studies, marketing services, strategic evaluation, business planning, sourcing funding and other professional business support with a view to expand Cape York Aboriginal business ventures and increase the ability of individuals to achieve economic independence.
There were innumerable requests for assistance that Balkanu was instrumental in providing leadership direction to help Indigenous business with marketing and feasibility studies, business development and capacity building. Some noteworthy cases are listed below.
The Business Development team were active in providing commercial advisory and consultancy services to many aspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs in Cape York, some examples:
A brief summary of Balkanu’s contributions were
Cape York Arts Marketing Project assisted Indigenous artists to display their work at the Cairns Airport Art Display. Balkanu together with UMI Arts assisted with sourcing funding to engage a manager to help develop a corporate structure to support and promote work of Indigenous local artists.
Cape York Enterprise Stimulus was a project that Balkanu provided business consultation, mentorship and commercial business networking for small entrepreneurs in Cape York particularly in areas of tourism development such as offering of Vehicle-Hire, service stations, Cultural Tourism, provision of camping or motel facilities, boosting local retail sales.
Cattle Industry feasibility studies were conducted in regions of Aurukun and Coen where Balkanu has identified the viability of developing commercial cattle enterprises in partnership between Traditional Owners, Land Trusts and joint venture partners. Balkanu led significant consultations with pastoralists and Land Trusts and helped with market research, strategic advice, legal and financial management for infrastructure set up for profitable cattle production.
Dreaming Track – The DREAMING TRACK tourism project, which is still ongoing in its development, is envisaged to generate tourism revenue for Indigenous clans in Cape York. The plan is to develop world class walking trails starting from Daintree in the south of Far North Queensland that will extend to the most northern tip of Cape York Peninsula. Eco-tourism and other small-scale Indigenous-owned enterprises will be established alongside the adventure trails, which are expected to attract a lot of domestic and international travellers. The project will provide a robust commercial platform for Indigenous clans to participate in the tourism economy and generate wealth and improve their well-being. The Department of Environment and Resource Management appointed Balkanu as project manager for initial feasibility investigation, to communicate with Indigenous Elders and the community so as to obtain meaningful input and ensure endorsement of the project by local stakeholders.
Balkanu assisted the the Gamaay Warra People to construct the first Dreaming Track – “Gaamay Walking Track” in the Cooktown region. https://www.facebook.com/CooktownTNQ/posts/the-cape-york-gamaay-dreaming-track-is-now-open-hike-it-bike-it-ride-it-drive-it/10155857171413410/
Hope Vale Arts Centre and the Aurukun Sewing Group were given support to promote the crafts of local Indigenous with Balkanu also helped to source distribution channels for profitable sales.
Hope Vale Horticulture Project was among many horticultural projects that Balkanu provided business and technical mentorship to enable locals cultivate crops on their land to reap profitable produce.
Land Trusts organisations were supported by Balkanu team in capacity building, technical assistance, business planning, mentoring, feasibility assessment and development of new businesses, seeking resources and funding to enable Land Trust establishments pursue potential economic activities such as tourism, management of property and their country. Balkanu also provide support in seeking funding support, equity to initiate viable business programs, equip and guide Land Trust organisations to be accountable in financial accountability and regulatory compliance, record keeping and reporting.
Mossman Gorge Precinct – Balkanu was appointed by ILC as service provider, acting as Project Director for the development of the Mossman Gorge Training and Visitor Centre Development in 2009 in close collaboration with Bamanga Bubu Ngadimunku (BBN) leadership. Other sponsors were Queensland Department of State Development, Tourism Queensland, Environmental Protection Agency, Australian Government Indigenous Land Corporation, Westpac Corporation, Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relationships, Australian Government Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, the Douglas Shire.
Balkanu was responsible to manager, supervise and take responsibility for all aspects of developing a business and marketing plan, contribute to, implement, monitor and report on the procurement of business services and products throughout the development of the Mossman Gorge Project. Balkanu worked with Traditional Elders on the strategy of the transitioning of existing community businesses into the Visitor Centre of the Mossman Visitor Centre. In addition Balkanu contributed to the delivery of capital works program, managed sub-contractors, meet with various steering committees and maintained communication lines with key stakeholders, managed day to day issues to ensure the Project achieves its objectives within specific timeframes.
The Project’s objective is to develop the Mossman Gorge Visitor centre that incorporate will incorporate transit facilities, guided Dreamtime Walks, café, fine art gallery, rainforest art and artefact retail area, gift shop, ticket office, performance arenas, BBQ areas and Swimming holes for visitors. It’s vision for the community is to build a sustainable and viable community that is proud of its land and its culture, at the same time the Project will improve social and economic health to the community through job creation, education in skills-building.
Pormpuraaw Accommodation feasibility assessments were facilitated by Balkanu to improve on tourist offerings and economic development for Pormpuraaw community, at the same time we assisted local businesses with evaluation of their existing business infrastructure, business planning, exploring new business opportunities for the Kiosk takeaway, Croc Farm, etc.
Wuthumpul Cultural Centre sought Balkanu’s assistance in improving their services to the public, with increased services in event organisation, boost up the display of local art and craft, as well as property management.
FEASIBILITY STUDIES were conducted with pro-bono support from Corporate organisations. They assisted locals in Cape York Peninsula with investigating possible business ventures such as
Help us help the Cape York community.
We respectfully acknowledge the First Nations people in the State of Queensland, we acknowledge the cultural and spiritual connection that Aboriginal people and Torres Straits Islander people have with the land and the sea.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present as well as the existing and emerging leaders who walk together in partnership on this journey.
We want to express our thanks to all our supporters, volunteers, funding organisations and all who have worked in partnership with us, standing alongside us to help achieve our mission to bring beneficial change to Cape York’s Indigenous communities.
