INDIGENOUS BUSINESS SECTOR By Georgie Desailly
For Natasha Parsgaard, running her own catering business has been a lifelong dream since she was a four year old following her mother around the kitchen. Thanks to her recent participation in the Townsville One Business Program, Natasha has turned this dream into a reality, and is now the owner and operator of NQ Soul Foods, a local catering business that serves cuisine inspired by Natasha’s rich and diverse Indigenous and Scandanvaian heritage.
“NQ Soul Foods is a small business in our local Townsville and Burdekin communities who caters for various events and festivals, and provides a friendly, welcoming, healthy, and safe food and beverage service,” explains Natasha. “My mother was a proud Indigenous woman and my father was Danish, so the cuisine pays homage to my ancestral background through incorporating rich and delicious flavouring that stems from my Scandinavian heritage.” In collaboration with TAFE Queensland and We Are One Business, the One Business Program is a three month-mentoring initiative designed to create more pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders. One Business Project Manager and Senior Trainer, Leesa Watego says the program, which piloted in Townsville at the start of this year, holds critical importance in building, connecting and delivering grass-roots knowledge for Indigenous Australian business owners across the region. “One Business Townsville supported many new and emerging Indigenous businesses as well as some existing ones to secure opportunities and incubate ideas into fully fledged businesses,” says Leesa. “Building a sustainable business requires many things including a great idea, access to capital and markets, however you also need someone you can get advice and guidance from, and a place to build your skills as a business owner. “Therefore One Business was designed by us to build that capacity in regional Queensland through recruiting Indigenous business trainers to be those guides.”
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