When an intercultural approach is embedded into local economic development, councils are better positioned to nurture resilient and innovative ecosystems. Businesses that draw on multiple cultural perspectives solve problems differently, connect to global supply chains( often via diaspora networks), and design products and services that speak to broader markets in Australia and overseas.
ECOSYSTEMS START FROM THE INSIDE OUT Growing an ecosystem that is truly inclusive of all business owners, the type where someone from a minority faith or cultural background can attend an event and feel immediately accepted, needs goodwill, preparation and ongoing nurturing by councils. Willingness to attend and enter a new business and social network can be daunting for any business owners and especially so for people from diverse cultural or faith backgrounds.
For local economic development, healthy external ecosystems begin from the inside of a business; innovation, broader markets, partnerships, supplier relationships and sharper problem-solving lead to greater profitability which is strengthened by good leadership of cultural and faith diversity and their intersections within a business. 8
Fergal Coleman from Symphony 3 said,“ We didn’ t plan a multicultural team and have always recruited based on talent. Of our sixteen staff, we have 7 people who are first generation Australians with another three who are second generation. The real innovation flows from their intercultural team relationships. The way they, as well as our Australian-born staff understand problems for our clients, work through them and solve them together is invaluable to our company. We’ ve been able to create new products and services that we wouldn’ t have been able to without that diversity.”
For Yarn Strong Sista, a twenty-three year old Melbourne-based, First Nations-owned business, diversity has been central to growth.
Director, Robert Williams said,“ People are sometimes surprised that we have non-Indigenous staff. The majority of our team is First Nations but we also have team members from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and a non-Indigenous Australianborn person. For many years we produced First Nations dolls but, due to comments from our staff, we now reflect culturally diverse Australia thanks to our Vietnamese and Muslim team members. We would not have thought to do that. This relationship between cultures makes it easier to develop and promote our other products across Australia such as our anti-bias resources, professional development training and educational tools.”
51.5 % of Australians were either born overseas or had at least one parent born overseas. Multicultural is mainstream.
Taken together, these business-owner perspectives show why intercultural capability is not a luxury but a necessity for businesses. Whilst EDO’ s don’ t recruit staff for businesses, they can create an environment where the benefits of diversity are understood and partnerships developed to uncover hidden talents, products and services in local communities.
Economic development officers often ask: what does intercultural practice look like on the ground? The answer is not oneoff projects or symbolic gestures. It’ s a sustained, structured approach based on listening to businesses. We’ ve developed an Intercultural Roadmap which offers six steps that we work with Councils to adapt to the local context.
THE INTERCULTURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
Step 1: Map Diversity Mapping diversity is the foundation of intercultural economic development. But it is not enough to rely on official datasets because, as useful as they are, they often miss the texture of real communities.
One Hume City Council EDO explained,“ When I first started, we used the old method of businesses approaching us, but now we’ re very, very proactive by going out and understanding who’ s here, who’ s coming, what they’ re doing and what they need from us to help them grow.”
By mapping diversity through on-theground engagement such as meeting businesses in industrial estates and retail centres, holding events attended by homebased businesses, networking through diaspora associations and partnering with local multicultural organisations, Hume EDO’ s build a dynamic map of local economies with active and positive relationships throughout the city.
The benefits extend beyond data. Mapping is also about signalling respect. By showing up in person, council demonstrates that migrant and First Nations businesses are integral to the local economy.
The process of mapping diversity amplifies the voices of all businesses and supports the awareness of migrant owned businesses such as Performance Marketer, a sole-operator business owned by Hatim Abbas.“ A lot of migrant business owners are a bit timid. Many of us come from countries where our local governments don’ t have economic development services so we don’ t know they exist in Australia. Once we know, we can use those services to help us grow our businesses.”
Mapping diversity is never finished. Communities evolve, new people arrive to the local government area and skills, global conflict and political decisions reshape supply chains. Councils that commit to continuous mapping will be best placed to translate cultural diversity into local economic resilience.
Step 2: Build trust Trust is the cornerstone of intercultural economic development. For many migrant and First Nations entrepreneurs, trust in government is not automatic. Experiences of exclusion or fear of authority or corruption can impact understanding of council services.
Robert Williams from Yarn Strong Sista explained,“ One of the things we do is to really to get councils and others to understand First Nations cultures. Those conversations create trust.”
Fergal Coleman stated,“ partnering with a council can supercharge your business.” Hatim Abbas said,“ linking me into Council networks for mentorship would give me an immediate trust in Council and understanding for them of my business.”
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 18 NO 3 2025 11