The new wave of Illawarra businesses combining profit and purpose
It's not business as usual.
This edition of Future Proof is brought to you with the support of Colliers Wollongong.
Raymond Timbery walks in two worlds.
On the one hand, business is in his blood. Inspired by his grandfather Laddie Timbery, who ran a business in the 1990s and 2000s teaching Aboriginal culture and making Aboriginal artifacts, Raymond Timbery has always had the fire of a founder within him.
“Seeing my grandfather run a business and be a part of that journey, and watching him and living with him, you get this hunger for that.”
On the other hand, Timbery’s culture is an inextricable part of who he is. As a proud Bidjigal Dharrawal/Monero Jaitmatang man, he was raised with a “culture upfront” mentality.
“Culture was everywhere I looked, my grandfather, my great uncles, they travelled the world, internationally, dancing and showcasing culture,” he tells The Pulse Illawarra.
“Being around all that you know, you’ve got a job to do.”
Today, Timbery leads his own business Gadhungal Marring, which provides cultural consultancy and education services in the Shoalhaven and is expanding to the Illawarra.
For Timbery, success in running a business is just as much about turning a profit as it is having a social impact.
“My success is based on my impact,” he says, highlighting how just a few years ago, there were only a handful of young people in the Sholahaven who knew the traditional dances that Timbery’s grandfather shared with the world.
“Now we call out a corroboree for NAIDOC and you’ve got 300 kids dancing.”
The same is true for language. From Dharrawal being unheard a few years ago, to now a generation of young people acknowledging their country in their language.
“That to me is success.”
Redefining success
Gadhungal Marring is one of a growing number of social enterprises in the Illawarra that are combining profit with purpose and addressing social issues with the power of business.
Across Australia, there are 12,000 social enterprises. These businesses set themselves apart from their colleagues in the wider not-for-profit sector by being self-sustaining: they do not rely on donations or grants for their core revenue and can sustain themselves financially through their activities.
Former CEO of Green Connect and current head of the Social Enterprise Council of NSW and the ACT, Kylie Flament, said the sector had grown in Australia and internationally as there was a wider realisation that a focus on profit above all else was the road to societal and planetary ruin.
“We currently live in a society of more, more, more and mine, mine, mine. But actually, the more, more, more and mine, mine, mine mentality is not doing us individually any favours,” she said.
“Everyone feels like they’re not enough, even the billionaires. It’s not doing the world any favours either because we’re constantly consuming in this crazy, snake-eating-its-own-tail cycle, and it’s not doing the environment any favours in terms of the waste that is being created.”
From the great extinction to ecosystem collapse, to social isolation and inequality, the path of business as usual is looking increasingly precarious. In response, social enterprises propose using one of the most powerful tools that we have developed - the profit-maximising corporation - to avoid the collapse.
“We can use the best of business, but apply it in a way that says the goal is to put people and planet first, not profit,” Flament said.
“Profit is the motor that serves people and the planet.”
The idea of social business is increasingly mainstream. In December 2024, the United Nations adopted a resolution emphasising the importance of the social and solidarity economy in achieving sustainable development and the European Union has issued similar statements.
In Australia, the federal government’s productivity point-man, Andrew Leigh, has been talking up the sector. In a speech last year, the assistant treasurer touted social enterprises as part of the solution to the productivity puzzle.
“They put underused talent to work. They turn social challenges into economic opportunities. And they prove that inclusion is not a cost to be borne, but a source of growth to be tapped.”
Learning the social enterprise lesson
Social enterprises are often cited as employing more than average for similarly sized businesses, and in particular engaging demographics such as people with disability, older workers and those from non-English speaking backgrounds. Across the country, social enterprises employ 200,000 people, about the same as the mining industry.
But in the Illawarra, this is not new; some of the region’s largest and oldest businesses have a social purpose.
Edward Birt, former chief operating officer of the Disability Trust, now coordinates the Illawarra Disability Alliance, a group that brings together large and small disability providers across the region.
To solve one of the thorniest challenges Australia faces, the woeful under-employment of people with disability, we need to learn from social enterprises, Birt said.
“I think we’ve really got to tap into the expertise of these disability services if we’re going to break through this wall of skills and capabilities, and to help the Bunnings or the Woolworths of the world.”
Joining these established players in the Illawarra are a new cohort of founders who are combining profit and purpose, many of whom - including Gadhungal Marring - have found their way to the social enterprise accelerator program run by iAccelerate.
One of those social enterprise startups is run by Kate Fitzgerald. Having started out as a not-for-profit enhancing access to education in the Global South, through the program with iAccelerate, the organisation has shifted and is about to launch a digital platform for schools and teachers in Australia to access independently developed lesson plans and modules.
Fitzgerald describes her organisation as an “aspiring social enterprise” and said the mentorship provided through iAccelerate enabled the budding business to pivot, building a self-sustaining model that can measurably address the social goal of increasing belonging and student engagement.
“We want to be meaningful, but also grounded in evidence-based best practice,” she said. “The data not only supports what we’re doing, but it also tells the story.”
Fitzgerald said the social enterprise framework enabled the organisation to take the best of both worlds of not-for-profit and philanthropy and the clear-eyed resolve of profit-driven businesses.
“‘Social enterprise’ gives us the structure and sustainability in achieving what we’re doing.”
If you refer your friends to The Pulse Illawarra, and they subscribe, you will receive complimentary access to our content. Find out how it works here.
The Illawarra is poised for transformation. Smart money and forward-thinking leaders are positioning for opportunities ahead.
We’re proud to introduce a special guest series by Connor Pearce, a respected former business journalist at The Illawarra Mercury, who examines five game-changing dynamics and unpacks the big economic questions.
You can read more from the Future Proof series as Connor Pearce examines the future - and the fault lines - across key sectors that will define the Illawarra over the next decade:
A new energy: Meet the creatives reshaping industry in Port Kembla
Go south-west: Can Picton Road and the SWIRL precinct unlock new corridors of growth?
Port Kembla’s energy future: Will gas, hydrogen or offshore wind win out—and who will decide?
The new care economy: With aged care and the NDIS under pressure, what comes next?
Cranes in the sky: Housing policy from the ground up—and why not everyone agrees.
The business of play: Tourism’s next act, and how to price the “experience economy.”