Ventia's Water team has recently formed a supply partnership with Australian Indigenous Electrical Wholesalers Pty Ltd (AIEW), a majority Indigenous-owned enterprise supplying electrical parts and equipment across Australia, to support our Water client's planned and reactive maintenance projects. 

This new relationship, which began in July 2020, supports the aims of our Reconciliation Action Plans to further improve social, employment and business outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Ventia is committed to providing long-term, sustainable employment, training, education and business opportunities for First Peoples and their communities and has set specific goals to: 

• increase our procurement of goods and services (expenditure and number) through Indigenous Enterprises, targeting a 3.0% increase in procurement of Indigenous subcontractors and suppliers in 2020, and
• support the establishment and growth of Indigenous Business Enterprises. 

Right partner: postive outcomes 

Initially seeking partners for a Roads project tender, Ventia engaged Aboriginal Participation and Engagement Advisory Services (APEAS) to help improve its strategies for working with Aboriginal business and increasing Aboriginal employment and retention rates. 

APEAS met with a number of Indigenous businesses that are closely aligned with Ventia's purpose of making infrastructure work for our communities and made introductions to aligned suppliers. The outcomes of this exploration were relevant across Ventia, with many potential supply partners identified. 

In seeing the overview of AIEW, Australia's largest Indigenous-owned electrical supplier, the Water team quickly recognised the opportunity to support this business, while achieving great outcomes and value for clients. 

Operating in St Marys, NSW since 2001, AIEW founder Eddie Murdoch has been the majority owner since 2011 and comes from a background of 20 years in trade wholesale of electrical, communications and data, solar, lighting and associated electrical component products.
  
This supply partnership is expected to grow over time, with other Ventia business units evaluating the opportunity for AIEW to supply electrical parts and equipment. Ventia will continue to work towards expanding supplier diversity and realising the ongoing goals and commitments of its Reconciliation Action Plan. 

Increasing our supplier diversity at Ventia leads to improvements in social, employment and business outcomes for Indigenous peoples.

We are committed to providing long-term, sustainable employment, training, education and business opportunities for Indigenous people and their communities.