Posting a business win

Birri-Gubba man Wayne Denning is the ultimate postmaster, delivering a positive face of Indigenous Australia to the world through game show, Letterbox.

Brisbane-based digital and broadcast media house Carbon Media recently won the Queensland Government’s Reconciliation Award for Business — Emerging Business.

For founder Wayne Denning, that recognition reinforced how right he was to abandon his government policymaking career four years ago and set up a business in digital media.

“I had little experience in television or multi-media production but the desire I had to tell the stories, promote rights issues, document languages and promote Indigenous role models burned strong.

“I’ve always wanted to inform and influence but thought that was out of my league — something only the likes of Packer and Murdoch could afford: that is, until the emergence of digital technology,” he says.

Wayne is a graduate of Queensland University of Technology’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) program. Carbon Media ‘graduated’ from QUT’s Creative Industries Incubator program, benefiting from swish commercial inner-Brisbane offices, support services and business mentoring.

Since 2006, Carbon Media has created television commercials, websites, social media campaigns, documentaries and corporate DVDs as well as live streaming of major music and sporting events.

Children’s TV game show Letterbox was Carbon Media’s real groundbreaker: the first TV game show made especially for Indigenous Australian children, starring Aboriginal kids from communities like Cherbourg competing in English spelling, memory and grammatical games as well as a segment focusing on Indigenous languages and culture.

Aired on National Indigenous Television (NITV) and ABC3, and seen in 44 countries across Asia, the Pacific and India via Australia Network, Letterbox is about to go into its second season.

“Any child can have fun playing Letterbox, but we chose to showcase young Indigenous children who rarely have the opportunity to prove they are positive role models,” Wayne says.

Positive imagery of Indigenous living is important to Wayne: “Visitors to Australia come and see our beaches, our desert, the rainforest. Cities are cities wherever they are, but our original cultures — the oldest living cultures in the world — those are unique.

“Carbon Media is proudly Aboriginal. That’s the company’s unique selling point; and it is Australia’s to capitalise on globally too.

“We’re setting a benchmark as a model for the Indigenous community to participate in the digital economy.”

Business forum serves up master classes

More than 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander business operators and entrepreneurs gathered in Brisbane recently to attend workshops on business planning, marketing, tendering and joint ventures.

All were offered as part of the 2010 Reconciliation Business Forum, an annual initiative of Queensland’s Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation.

The 2010 forum, titled Master Business, was designed to capture the public interest in the television hit series Master Chef.

Delegates workshopped various business creation and growth themes such as how to write the best business plan, prospectus, marketing plan or financials.

Their ideas, developed in small groups, were presented to a panel of experts including joint venture capitalists, bankers and marketers.

Ecotourism operator Jacob Cassady was one delegate keen to learn more about marketing.

His business, Mungalla Station near Ingham, was highly commended at the Queensland Reconciliation Awards for Business.

“I know we have a good product at Mungalla Station but we need to do better getting ourselves out there,” he said.

“I learnt a lot as a team member in a marketing workshop that I’ll take back to our business. Networking with other people at the forum was really helpful too.”

More information
www.reconciliation.qld.gov.au