Cover story
AIG – the Indigenous entrepreneur
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AIG – the Indigenous entrepreneurThe East Arnhem Land centre of Nhulunbuy is about to undergo a major facelift. And those initiating the development projects are the Bunuwal Group of companies, along with their project analysis and management team at AIG, the Aboriginal Investment Group. Bunuwal, a company boasting over $20 million in assets, is the development arm of the Rirratjingu Clan, the traditional owners of the Nhulunbuy townsite. The planned projects are currently at various stages of development, with some soon to start construction and others still at the design stage. They include the Flinders University Medical Centre, a hybrid power station to cater to the town’s electricity needs, the new Gove Shopping Centre, and a housing development that will eventually see the construction of 200 housing lots. “The potential investments for the Rirratjingu Clan would be, including the shopping centre, the power station, Flinders - about $70 million,” says an AIG spokesperson. Bunuwal is carrying out these developments after achieving success in previous projects in the Gove area. In 2006, it built the Malpi Village housing subdivision, a $13 million self-contained village of 26 modern homes. The first housing estate on traditional land in the Territory, Bunuwul leases the houses to Australian and Territory government workers, providing first class accommodation in an area where housing is in short supply. The group also provides ongoing maintenance and administration to Malpi Village. Bunuwal also built the Illegal Fishermen’s Accommodation and Processing facility for Australian Customs as well as a rapid deployment helicopter facility built for aerial surveillance of northern waters, a fully serviced workers camp at Wallaby Beach for its project employees, and Nhulunbuy’s Customs House Headquarters, the regional administration centre. The group also operates the Banana Plantation at Yirrkala, supplying local markets as well as shops in Galiwin’ku and Groote Eylandt. Bunuwal was born out of the Rirratjingu Clan’s long-term vision to create a guaranteed income for the future – after mining no longer existed. Seven years ago they decided to invest their mining royalty money in commercial enterprises, and AIG came on board to provide financial advice and guidance. Malpi Village was the first development, and to finance it they put up $1 million of their own money and took out a bank loan for the rest. The result sparked enormous benefits in work skills acquired and pride. Bunuwal is one of 12 Indigenous organisations that make up the membership of AIG. Originally born in late 1980s, AIG was formed when the Northern Land Council (NLC), the Top End’s Aboriginal representative body, decided there needed to be investment management for Indigenous enterprises. It is a charitable trust held for all the people in the seven regions of the NLC, developing strongly in the last seven years due to significant investment. AIG is not owned by NLC but it holds shares non-beneficially in trust. AIG also owns the NLC’s offices in Darwin, Casuarina and Katherine. “We set up joint ventures with various groups and make money out of profits,” explains the spokesperson. “There is no government money or NLC money in this organisation. Our funds are generated by trading.” One of the joint venturers is the Compass Group, a multinational supplier of catering services to mines. Compass has 400 000 employees worldwide and provides all catering and accommodation at Energy Resources of Australia’s Ranger Mine. At least 15 per cent of the Compass Group employees at ERA are Aboriginal. The employment target is written into the contracts AIG signs with clients. The upcoming Gove developments will provide much-needed infrastructure to the town. The Australian Government funded Flinders University Medical Centre will be located directly across from Gove Hospital, acting as a training facility for interns with GP and dental practices included, creating a fully operational medical precinct. Behind the medical centre will be the new Gove Shopping Centre with an underground car park that will hold 350 vehicles and will double as the community cyclone shelter for 4000 people. The $30 million hybrid power station will see solar arrays and wind towers, backed up by diesel generators, generate all the township’s electrical requirements. The wind tower is a joint venture with industry leader Powercorp, which has been operating a test tower to prove the project’s viability. The analysis phase will operate until the fourth quarter 2010, when construction will begin. There will be five giant turbines imported from France, each one of these creating a megawatt of power. The French Vergnet wind towers are the only units that can cope with Gove’s cyclonic weather conditions, with their rotors and the turbines able to be lowered to the ground in the event of a cyclone. The Rirratjingu Clan has excelled in business, thanks in part, to strong advice and management from AIG. But they have learned quickly and have relished their early success. “They want success as much as anyone else,” explains the spokesperson. “And along the path we teach them about corporate management. It takes a while but we’re getting there. Last year we handed back to Yirrkala all the Rirratjingu financial management because we’re now satisfied they can run it themselves.” Captovate – the internet innovatorsImagine this: you are sitting in front of your computer in Germany. You are soon to take a holiday in Central Australia and you’re interested in visiting the enticing West MacDonnell National Park. So you go to the West Macs website on the internet where you map out your journey and download volumes of stories told by locals onto your iPhone or MP3 player to take with you. The interpretations take in 16 sites along Namatjira Drive, so when you get to one, like Simpson’s Gap, you just click into that site and you’re immediately presented with an audio-visual orientation of Simpson’s Gap. Then you can click through stories told by local Aboriginal people, rangers, artists, scientists and local historians. You can choose to find out about the site’s history, the plants and animals that live there, and the Aboriginal stories associated with that place. You can even plan your journey according to your interests. Sounds futuristic? It’s already here and it’s a technology developed not in New York or Sydney, but by Darwin based IT company Captovate. Innovative and original, Captovate is a new media studio specialising in website development and internet marketing. The company was commissioned by the Northern Territory Government to develop the interpretive content for the West MacDonnell National Park Visitors Centre that will be at the Alice Springs Desert Park. “On the internet website you can view the videos and audio to get a taste of what to expect when you get there,” explains Captovate project manager Karen Hawkes. ”And then you can download the packages of interpretive material onto your iPhone or your iPod or computers, and when you’re out in the park you can play the material. It’s like a webcast.” The West ‘Macs’ National Park is the first park anywhere in Australia to enjoy a service like this. “The technology’s there, it’s actually bringing it together and using that technology in a smart way. The iPhone’s there, the web’s there, MP3s are available,” says Captovate general manager Michael Hawkes. “People will have this fantastic experience by finding out about the history, culture and nature of the place while they’re there.” Producing the content was the challenge. The government decided on the featured destinations, but to produce the content Captovate called on a host of local contractors. They hired Central Australian video producers, still photographers, audio technicians, anthropologists, all of whom join Karen Hawkes on a weekly Skype video conference. They pulled together over 200 stories from the local people who know this place so well in the themes of history, landscapes, art, locations and culture. “No other national parks in Australia have done this,” says Anna Cooke, project manager for the Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport. “The team at Captovate are highly skilled and extremely professional in everything they do. They have been able to take an idea and make it a reality.” “The difference with us is we are not IT and we’re not traditional advertising marketing. We’re marketing IT so it’s unique in the Territory. There isn’t anyone who does both.” Captovate has enjoyed spectacular growth since Michael and Karen Hawkes decided to create a business that produces high quality, custom built sites that are stylish yet easy to use. “In the past two years Captovate’s grown extremely fast,” says Michael Hawkes. “We went from [a staff of] three to nine people and then we have three in Alice Springs and 15 subcontractors in Alice. It’s happened very quickly. The demand is there, and it’s us managing that.” Michael’s background is in information architecture, accessibility and usability, while wife Karen joined as a project manager, having managed a national government education project, the National Accelerated Literacy Program. They have two children. “We saw a need in the community that people want higher-end website design development and a higher-end level of service on their website. They wanted a higher level of return on their website, not just an online brochure,” says Michael Hawkes. Clients also wanted to have control over their own sites. Instead of paying people to update a site, they wanted to be able to do that themselves. So Captovate provides each client with a Content Management System open source. “We are there to make it look good and work great - the back end of it. Then they can look after their site themselves.” Captovate advises clients on their website strategy and how to maximise their return on investment. They employ an expert in web content whose job is to interview people and work out what content goes on the website, ensuring it is optimised to be found by search engines. “The difference with us is we are not IT and we’re not traditional advertising marketing,” observes Karen Hawkes. “We’re marketing IT - so it’s unique in the Territory. There isn’t anyone who does both.” That innovative approach has won Captovate a sensational number of clients. The company has produced websites for Territory FM, which includes features like the ability to listen live on the internet, plus photo albums and social networking. The Darwin City Council (DCC) micro-site Grind Online is an interactive youth newspaper website used to express opinions, ideas and activities which young people manage themselves, aged 12 to 16. Captovate is currently building the DCC website where Darwin’s Lord Mayor can do podcasts, including maps, videos and blogs. The Darwin Waterfront Development, Airnorth, Kerry Holden and Airpower are among their recent clients. Along the way the Captovate team won the 2009 Small Business Champion Award in the New Business category. “We’re here for the long term, being local,” states Michael Hawkes. “We want to manage this business by providing fantastic service to locals and keep that reputation with them as well.”
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