Bridgeman Yarning Circle enables Indigenous business opportunities

Bridgeman Agencies Pty Ltd trading as Bridgeman was founded in 1997, currently has 83 employees, of whom 12 percent are Indigenous.

Through its Bridgeman Yarning Circle, Bridgeman is successfully integrating pre-qualified Indigenous businesses into Queensland’s supply chain, providing them with work opportunities that include Tier 1 and Government projects.

Managing Director, Adam Sarota said a key company goal was to increase employment opportunities for First Nations people, whether it was through direct employment or First Nations supply chains.

Bridgeman’s commitment to the growth and inclusion of Indigenous businesses in the supply chain, as well as its jobs and social initiatives, supports Queensland Government’s procurement approach of ‘Diversity through supply chains’.

Their initiative, the Bridgeman Yarning Circle is a strict and stringent program to enable prequalified and capable Indigenous contractors to tender and when successful, deliver key trade packages on Bridgeman projects becoming a key part of Bridgeman’s supply chain and the opportunity to improve and demonstrate their capability on prominent projects.  The program includes a broad range of contractors, from varied construction related trades to uniform providers, stationery distributors, recruitment suppliers and professional services organisations.

Adam said: “The Bridgeman Yarning Circle is used to identify, pre-qualify, and match Indigenous businesses to trade packages within each project.”

An example is Bridgeman’s recent Queensland Department of Education Roma State College project, where 33 percent of the project scope was completed by contractors from local Indigenous owned businesses, far exceeding the four percent contractual obligation.

“These companies had been pre-qualified through our Bridgeman Yarning Circle”, Adam said. “It’s really rewarding to see how well it’s working and the positive impact its creating.”

Bridgeman staff also mentored a local Indigenous business with staff from On Country so it could work on the Roma State College project, developing the business safety processes, procedures and compliance documentation, also enabling its future ability to tender and grow.

Their ‘Futures Apprentice Program’ has 16 full-time apprentices, while its ‘Youth Detention and Past Offenders Program’, which provides mentoring and real-life work experience, and has created three fulltime jobs within the company.

Bridgeman runs the ‘One Mob Initiative’ which encourages Indigenous peoples to pursue tertiary education and employment; ‘Bridging the Gap with Bridgeman’ which targets Indigenous high school students, providing pathways, mentoring and real-life learning opportunities as they transition to work; and ‘Women in Construction Pathway’, which sees both Indigenous and non-Indigenous women supported in their professional growth.

Bridgeman is committed to using Indigenous suppliers wherever possible in its business operations.

Through its practices, Bridgeman encourages and facilitates diversity in Queensland’s supply chain.