While most organisations have long recognised the importance of gender and cultural inclusion, its impact has been historically difficult to quantify. But inclusivity is quickly becoming a long-term strategic imperative, as morale, productivity and performance benefits become clear.
Australian businesses have made great progress in building gender and cultural inclusivity, yet there is still progress to make. Deloitte research shows that while 22 per cent of startups are founded by women, just 0.7 per cent of funding secured by start-ups went to solely women-founded companies in 2022.
Despite this, there are bright sparks to recognise. The number of female small business owners increased by 24 per cent between 2006 and 2021, more than three times the growth of men, reaching roughly one-third of all small business owners in the country.
Bringing together people from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives unlocks a wealth of creativity. Research from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that a 10 per cent increase in female representation on boards leads to an increase of about A$78.5 million of value for the average ASX-listed company.
Two International Women’s Day lunches, hosted in Sydney and Melbourne by American Express, brought three trailblazers together to discuss how inclusion improves business performance and innovation.
Hosted by esteemed journalist and multi-award-winning author Leigh Sales, the event featured Hero Packaging CEO and co-founder Anaita Sarkar, Showpo CEO Jane Lu and Associate Provost and Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, Marcia Langton.
This is what we learned.
How inclusivity helps Hero Packaging make a meaningful difference
Anaita Sarkar’s entrepreneurial spirit has always helped her see opportunity in challenging situations. Having moved to Australia from India as a child, her journey in business started when she was in year 11 of high school, selling makeup and hair services to her peers.
“I wanted to do something different to my parents,” she explains. “They’re traditional in a sense. They feel very privileged to be in Australia and their priorities have always been to work hard and get a job. I knew I was different, but I didn’t know why.”
After following what Anaita refers to as the “good migrant daughter path” into a traditional career as an accountant, she started her first business, Olivia & Co, as a ‘side hustle’ and it quickly became a success.
It was here that she realised how much plastic waste was involved in shipping orders and saw an opportunity to help change that. After discovering a lack of existing solutions, she started zero-waste packaging company, Hero Packaging, to provide a more sustainable option.
Throughout her journey creating and growing two successful businesses, Anaita has always been passionate about providing equitable opportunities. She says having an inclusive, female-led workplace has played a significant role in the business’ growth.
“Inclusivity is part of our ethical business strategy and it’s been really important,” she says. “Our team is 80% women and 75% of them come from a diverse culture. That has benefitted our business because it adds so much to our team’s culture.
“It also helps us better serve customers from diverse backgrounds and make them feel comfortable, as we often have someone who can speak their language.”
One of the ways Hero Packaging builds inclusivity is by removing identifying information such as the names and backgrounds of job applicants, to encourage more equitable and objective decision-making on new hires.
“We all have subconscious bias,” she says. “We can default to wanting to hire people that talk and look like us. That's not okay and we're very conscious of that when we’re building our team.”
The hardest working self-described “lazy CEO”
As the CEO of global fashion brand Showpo, Jane Lu is one of Australia’s brightest entrepreneurial minds.
Like Anaita, Jane moved to Australia at a young age and always felt pressure to excel academically and get a job. She studied hard and got a job as an accountant, but once she was in the corporate world, she quickly realised it wasn’t the life for her.
“When I achieved it all, I realised I hated it,” she says. “I was well into my job when a friend came to me and asked me to start a business and I was all in. I didn't even care what it was!”
Jane quit her job to work on the fashion business, which involved running pop-up stores and stocking products from emerging designers. She didn’t tell her parents and continued to pretend she was working as an accountant.
While the business fell through, Jane took her knowledge and learnings from physical retail into e-commerce. She started Showpo – originally called Show Pony – after being introduced to a new business partner who shared a similar vision.
Showpo is now a powerful global force within fashion and e-commerce, shipping worldwide and boasting more than 3.5 million followers across social media platforms. Jane says much of its success is down to her largely female-led team that just manages to “get stuff done”.
“Women bring a unique sense of empathy to businesses and that’s important for understanding your customers,” she says. “We’ve found that women are more driven to shop by trends that they see on social media. Having a female-led team is crucial for us because it helps us better understand the needs of our customers.”
Improving opportunities for remote Indigenous communities
As an academic, anthropologist, geographer and keynote speaker, as well as the director and founder of two consultancy firms, Professor Marcia Langton is one of Australia’s most respected voices. A descendant of the Yiman and Bidjara nations, Marcia is a tireless advocate for First Nations communities and businesses.
Marcia has worked with First Nations communities across the country and deeply understands the challenges they face. She says unlocking more opportunities for First Nations businesses and women starts at the policy level.
“I worked with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as a consultant on the issues related to Indigenous training, employment and workforce. We came up with a Commonwealth procurement policy which helped Commonwealth spending on Indigenous business services increase from an infinitesimal amount to over $5 billion, between 2015 and 2021.”
“Aboriginal women are creating and leading some truly remarkable businesses,” she says. “Terri Janke and Company is one example. She’s built a law firm in Sydney and she is the go-to person in Australia for Indigenous cultural and intellectual property matters. Mabu Mabu, established, owned and run by Nornie Bero from the Torres Strait, is an Indigenous catering company that partners with big businesses to service events.”
Marcia says there is a big opportunity for Australian small businesses to partner with female-led First Nations businesses to bring unique perspectives and high-quality experiences to their customers. Catering is one example, but she also points to Indigenous arts business, Ernabella Arts of the Pukatja community, which recently collaborated with bedding and homewares brand Kip&Co.
For non-Indigenous small businesses that are interested in working with Indigenous counterparts, Marcia says state-based Indigenous chamber of commerce bodies and Supply Nation are excellent places to start.
Creating better businesses through inclusivity
While there’s still work to do to improve gender and cultural inclusion in Australia, the stories and insights of Anaita, Jane and Marcia demonstrate how inclusivity drives ingenuity and improves business performance.
Inclusivity is more than a policy or a program; it's a competitive differentiator that fuels innovation, enhances team culture and drives economic growth.