Originally Published in The Canberra Times

By Bruce Billson

Vibrant, culturally and linguistically diverse small businesses are essential to growing our economy.

WE ALL depend on the small and family-run businesses in our lives - from your local café to your dog groomer, GP or landscaper.

The more than 2.6 million small businesses around the country are a vibrant and diverse group of passionate people who are carving out small business livelihoods and making significant contributions to workplaces, communities and the economy.

Combined, small businesses generate 33 per cent of our nation's gross domestic product, and provide jobs for 5.36million people - 42 per cent of the private workforce.

These enterprising women and men are the lifeblood of our communities and key drivers of the engine room of our economy.

This vital small business contribution is widely valued and recognised. What might be less obvious is the diversity of small business owners. 

The dream to be your own boss while pursuing a passion is what motivates many Australians to be small business owners.

The drive to create your own opportunities, to imagine better possibilities for yourself and your family, to commit with optimism and courage to a big plan than involves risk, investment and determination is in the DNA of people who lead and build their own business.

This make-my-own-opportunities quality that so many small business owners display in spades when pursuing fulfilling livelihoods seems to resonate with enterprising people when it comes to life choices.

Is a decision to leave one's homeland, travel vast distance over the oceans to pour one's heart and soul into building a new life in Australia, inspired by the prospects of a better future, akin to a decision to build a business?

One out of three small business owners (34 per cent) were born outside of Australia, which is a greater proportion than Australia's general population, of whom 28 per cent were born overseas.

More than half (53 per cent) of small business owners are second-generation migrants with a father and/or mother born overseas. Nearly one-quarter of small business owners (23 per cent) speak a language other than English at home.

Small business owners who were born overseas are more likely than those born in Australia to work in sectors such as transport, postal services and warehousing, as well in the hospitality and accommodation service industries.

Small business owners around the country come from a wide range of ancestries, cultural and linguistic backgrounds and bring a vibrancy to our small business landscape that nourishes our communities.

It is likely that important and growing First Nations Australians small business owners are under-represented in the limited data that is available, with only 1 per cent of small business owners self-identifying as First Nations Australians. About 3 per cent of the population self-identify as First Nations
Australians.

The main sectors where First Nations Australians are active include construction, personal services, healthcare and social assistance, and administrative and support services.

Self-employment and creating livelihood opportunities for communities through Indigenous entrepreneurship is increasingly a path being taken and supported for economic self-determination.

We need to celebrate and honour this vibrant and positive contribution of small business to our nation, to our economy and to what we enjoy as consumers.

Respect and appreciation for the disproportionate contribution of our culturally diverse small business owners and leaders also means we need to be responsive to the particular challenges and needs of all small and family business owners.

Supply Nation, Indigenous Business Australia and Many Rivers are just some of the remarkable organisations supporting, enabling and building capacity for successful Indigenous businesses.

At ASBFEO, we are also aiming to make a meaningful contribution. Our website resources are convertible into more than 100 community languages and our consultation and outreach activities has a particular eye to better support our culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) small business
community. CALD business owners are also a priority focus for our communication efforts that aim to make sure no business fails because the owners didn't know about something that might have helped. 

The ASBFEO assistance data shows that small business owners who speak a language other than English at home are more likely to have difficulty recovering money they are owed.

In fact, of small business owners who speak a language other than English and who needed active case management from ASBFEO case managers, almost 60 per cent had a payment dispute. This is almost double the number of English-speaking small business owners who needed active case management assistance from ASBFEO for payment dispute in the March 2025 quarter.

Sadly, payment disputes across the small business landscape are an ongoing problem for many small and family businesses.

A contractor in the ICT industry of CALD background was owed thousands of dollars for the work they had undertaken. When the contractor's business customer refused to respond to requests for payment, the contractor reached out to ASBFEO for help.

When they advised the business customer that they had contacted ASBFEO for assistance, pleasingly the contractor was promptly paid the full amount owed.

ASBFEO has helped over 50,000 small business owners with a wide range of issues, and our rich data and evidence are important elements to sharing small business stories and for our advocacy. We have a range of helpful guides, tools, and resources available through our website for small businesses on the issues that affect them.

The translation facility hopefully means that small business owners seeking information can access this in a language that is comfortable and more easily understood, and valuable information is not lost in translation. 

Successful, vibrant, culturally and linguistically diverse small businesses are essential to growing our economy and supporting our communities. We need to keep shining a light on these optimistic and hard-working small business owners who are passionate and willing to follow their dream, and who will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurial small business owners and leaders.