Ahandup
,
The success of Fortescue’s
Billion Opportunities
program
Nev Power
Chief Executive Officer
Fortescue Metals Group
Fortescue Metals Group’s CEO, Nev Power, uses
this article to describe some of the important
philosophical deliberations behind the company’s
successful program of supporting Aboriginal
business development, training and job creation.
Widely lauded for its winning approach, Fortescue’s
Billion Opportunities
model is far from a ‘handout’
mentality for members of local Aboriginal
communities. Instead it requires active and
sustained involvement, through the issuing of
mining contracts, and so engenders an important
sense of pride and engagement for all concerned.
Sue Bung remembers when all of her family was collecting
Centrelink and living from one cheque to the next.
She remembers the drinking and the drugs in her community.
Most of all, she remembers worrying about the next generation.
How can you teach your kids about their past when they don’t
have a present or a future?
Sue says, “I was sitting in Newman with my family and
things were not going anywhere. We were just sitting with
nothing happening and you get tired of waiting for the royalties
every year. We didn’t have a business, so our family decided to
get out and have a go. When we formed our business, Fortescue
were the first mining company that, when we came and asked
for an opportunity, said ‘yes’”.
Fortescue’s Aboriginal Business Development team, led
by Heath Nelson, invested serious time and resources in the
Bungs, helping with things like revising their business plan
to align with their capabilities, and with bookkeeping and
invoicing, to more complex matters such as business structures
and corporate governance.
The company that Sue Bung, her sister Francis, and
brother Bruce, formed was called Nyiyaparli Engineering Mine
Maintenance Service (NEMMS). In 2011, NEMMS signed a
$3 million contract with Fortescue to provide equipment hire.
When Fortescue announced in July 2013 that we had
awarded $1 billion in contracts to Aboriginal businesses,
I thought of Sue Bung.
In 2011, Fortescue set a stretch target of awarding $1 billion
in contracts to Aboriginal businesses within two years under
an initiative called
Billion Opportunities
.
We reached that
target in just 18 months, having signed 102 contracts
VTEC graduates working
on Fortescue’s railway
notahandout
Minesite 2013
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