The Indigo Brief
A borrowed lawnmower
My first business began in Cairns. The work I do now is still grounded in family, community ownership and practical decisions.
Benjamin Isaiah Mitchell
I grew up in Cairns, in Australia's far north. My family is from the Torres Strait, the Merriam and Mualgal peoples, and our governance of land, sea and kinship is older than any institution I now work with. That is where my method comes from.
My first business was a borrowed lawnmower and 12 weeks of knocking on doors in Cairns. It paid for my first semester at university. Since then I've watched good ideas stall with the funding already in hand, because nothing was built to hold the money.
The money and the goodwill arrive before the structure that could carry them.
The people who carry the knowledge keep the intellectual property. Community information is used only with that community's consent.
From working one-on-one with business owners to bringing executives to a shared decision, I focus on what people can put into practice.
I'm completing a research degree (MPhil/PhD) at the Australian National University, and I founded Indigo.Co, a First Nations-owned business. I'm married with three young sons, and they set the limits on how much I take on.