Regional Enterprise Development Institute (REDI.E) helps Aboriginal communities in Western NSW access job opportunities, career advancement, mentoring, training and community services.

In the past 12 months alone, REDI.E has placed 400 Indigenous people in remote Western NSW communities in jobs while also helping local employers access more than $100,000 in government incentives.

Managing this partnership between employers and the local people is one of the key ways the organisation has helped these communities to thrive during its 20-year history.

“We train and develop our people to give them the best chance to take up jobs in their communities,” REDI.E general manager Peter Gibbs (pictured) tells Kochie’s Business Builders.

“For the communities to be sustainable they need skilled people to stay there for the long term. The work we do with employers is also important because employers recognise that our people don’t move. If you invest in your local people, you’ll have a workforce for generations.”

In practice, this means providing programs like vocational training and upskilling in language literacy and numeracy, as well as one-on-one employment mentoring from REDI.E staff to help job seekers gain employment.

Creating opportunities from the ground up

As well as administering contracts on behalf of the Federal Government, REDI.E also creates its own enterprises to provide employment opportunities for Aboriginal people.

This includes supporting local community projects like the Cobar Market Garden and Wilcannia River Radio, and implementing various programs with partners. These include a recycling and litter reduction program, the Container Deposit Scheme in Dubbo in collaboration with charity St Vincent de Paul. Part of the NSW Government’s Return and Earn initiative, it gives locals the chance to earn 10c per bottle or similar containers they collect. “It addresses the environmental issues and puts money in people’s pockets,” says Peter.

The money earned from the Container Deposit Scheme collaboration is also invested into some of REDI.E’s other enterprises, including a café in Dubbo in partnership with an educational-based organisation. This allows young people to study while gaining practical experience in the adjacent café to earn their qualifications in hospitality, business and retail.

“It’s one of the ways we demonstrate to our young people that we are serious about them and absolutely committed to them,” says Peter.

One of REDI.E’s newest enterprises is the purchase of an IGA supermarket in Wilcannia, a remote Aboriginal community in far western NSW that has suffered food shortages during the pandemic (while also being hit by a COVID-19 outbreak later in 2021).

“From January 2022, we’ll be working with Outback Stores to provide fresh, affordable, appropriate food to keep our people healthy as well as providing jobs to approximately 20 people,” says Peter.

Not just jobs, but career paths

In order to help members of the community into jobs and keep them, REDI.E also provides community services, including the Remote School Attendance Strategy.

“The longer you keep kids in school, the more chance they have of doing something with their life and improving their opportunities, particularly when it comes to employment,” says Peter.

When an Indigenous person secures a job, it also allows them to become a role model for other family members, says Peter.

“If one person or two people can get a job and help the family run better, it overcomes some social problems as well,” he adds.

Retail and community services are two of the key sectors with the greatest demand for jobs in the area, according to Peter. However, he’s keen to ensure not just jobs, but career paths for Aboriginal people to become leaders in the workplace and their communities.

“Over the last generation we haven’t invested enough in bringing through nurses, police officers or teachers in those core sectors that can help Aboriginal people take up those jobs in their own community, and be the local principal, or the local nursing manager,” he says. “I think there’s a great opportunity to do better here. We want our communities’ aspirations to be the same as those who live on the North Shore [of Sydney].”

Making meaningful partnerships

Running an organisation like REDI.E requires navigating complex operational and financial systems.

Partnering with professional services firm KPMG over the past 10 years has been instrumental to REDI.E’s success.

“Our collaboration with KPMG Finance Hub has helped REDI.E with getting timely financial information on a daily and weekly basis,” says Peter. “We’re looking at setting up the right structures to meet the changing focus of REDI.E.

“We want to set up enterprises and need to know how we navigate the profit and not-for-profit parts. The education KPMG Finance Hub provides around financial administration and management is so needed in our organisation. We need our people to understand why it’s so important to manage your finances.”

Accessing government incentives during COVID has been important for REDI.E, and KPMG helped the organisation take advantage of these.

“They were constantly on the lookout for those packages whenever they were announced and navigated us through the different layers and levels of government, making sure we were compliant,” says Peter. “Their assistance with those applications and getting us through has been nothing short of outstanding. We have a real meaningful relationship. They’re more than a corporate partner. They don’t just see us as a client, they’re a true friend.”

Visit REDI.E’s website to see the full scope of their work.

For more about KPMG’s services for businesses and not-for-profits, check out the KPMG Enterprise page.

This article is brought to you by Kochie’s Business Builders in partnership with KPMG Australia.