A Learning Resource for Mob Engaging with the Social Enterprise Sector

What we're learning about First Nations-led social enterprise

• Who is a resource actually for? What happens when a project meant to teach the sector about First Nations engagement gets handed back to community, and reshaped into something for Mob instead.
• Can consensus replace hierarchy entirely? What Aboriginal governance looks like in practice, no leaders, no voting, and why "lateral" leadership isn't the absence of structure but a different one.
• What does it cost to change direction mid-grant? The real conversation that happens when a funded project realises its brief was wrong, and what it takes to get a funder to agree.
• Is cultural load something you plan for, or just carry? What it means to bring your whole self to paid work while also managing Sorry Business, caring responsibilities, and grief, often all at once.
• Where's the line between consultation and control? What genuine, First Nations-led consultation looks like when the people funding the work are willing to actually change course based on it.

Why this conversation matters
Consultation gets promised often and delivered rarely, especially when a funder's original brief runs up against what community actually needs. This conversation matters because it shows what it looks like when that gap gets closed, a funded project pivoting mid-stream, a learning community working by consensus instead of hierarchy, and paid Aboriginal expertise treated as non-negotiable rather than a nice-to-have. Get this wrong and you end up with a resource that serves the sector's comfort more than community's benefit.