22 Nov 2017: The Kakadu Plum project, a business collaboration between two Australian universities, the acquaculture industry and northern Australia Indigenous communities, was recognised this week at the Business and Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) Awards.
The team won the 2017 BHERT Award for Outstanding collaboration in community engagement for their project that both transforms the native food industry and empowers Aboriginal communities.
The success of the project centres on the preservative properties of the Kakadu Plum, which as a functional ingredient is now used as a natural preservative by 75 per cent of the Queensland aquaculture industry. The benefits include significantly extending the retail shelf life of prawns.
More than 250 people from Aboriginal communities in northern Australia play a key role in harvesting the plums and developing a supply chain to meet growing demand.
The successful collaborating partners are:
IAA Relationship Manager Richard Hurst, who attended the award ceremony in Melbourne, said, “This project shows how the business and academic worlds can successfully engage and collaborate with Indigenous communities. These are the types of connections that Indigenous Accountants Australia are trying to forge in the world of accountancy.”
Read more about the awards here:
https://www.bhert.com/award-winners-2017/collaboration-in-community-engagement