Can do attitude drives Tammy to business success

By PETER ROWE

If you are ever looking for some moral support for your business talk to Tammy O’Connor, the 2024 IEBF Business Owner of the Year – and the 2024 Business Woman of the Year.

Tammy exudes a ‘can do’ attitude to both business and life that leaves you with a warm positive glow when you are in her presence.

Last week Ibnews.com.au spent an hour or so with Tammy to congratulate her on her double triumph at the recent awards ceremony at Crown Towers – and to discover what makes her tick.

And the get together at her Mount Pleasant office in Perth, where she successfully runs the KingKira Group, was a story of ups and downs, good and bad and a never give up mindset that has been an inspiration to so many.

Tammy grew up in a small town in northwest WA called Marble Bar. A place famous for its many appearances on  numerous weather shows for being the hottest place in the country.

She left school after Year Nine with few qualifications and has since forged an amazing business, working with many of the mining giants over a number of years.

Her success has recently seen her awarded The Roberta Sykes Scholarship and a trip to the famous Harvard Business School in the US.

“I’ve never been to the USA, so it’s going to be exciting,” Tammy says, with a glint in her eye.

Female leaders in industry is the week-long topic of the trip, something Tammy has plenty of knowledge in.

“I was offered it two years ago, but business has been so busy and I have to look after that first and make sure my people are in a good place,” she admits.

And her business is in a good place. Contracts in waste management with Fortescue, who she says gave her the first opportunity, now with multiple sites and a five-year contract, and now Mineral Resources and BHP, who have been a big supporter.

But it wasn’t always that way, as is often the case with startup businesses, and even more so with Indigenous businesses – where many in the past have been taken advantage of in what is termed Blak Cladding.

“My journey started back about 10 years ago. I tried to go down the civil and construction path but I was introduced to an opportunity in waste management,” Tammy says.

“The mining, oil and gas industry is a tough market because it is so male dominated but we persevered and thanks to Fortescue it happened.”

Tammy admits it was a tough start. Being an Aboriginal business is hard, being a female Aboriginal business is even harder.

“But one of the things we do being female  is we come from a maternal background  to shape things and I think that is why there are so many good businesswomen now,’ she says.

Female-run Aboriginal businesses are the biggest growth sector in 2024 – across all businesses in Australia.

There weren’t many opportunities growing up in Marble Bar. The only jobs were government jobs – and Tammy did that, following her Mum as a community officer in schools.

But when she saw a lot of Indigenous businesses being taken advantage of a decade or so ago she knew she had to do something.

“I didn’t know anything about business or finance so I went out and worked and slowly understood it, worked inside joint ventures and I watched and learned everything.

“I learnt about contracts and how they work so I could then help others understand and bid for them.  I’m mentoring seven businesses now so they can avoid being ripped off.”

“It’s enabled me to bid and win contracts as a full Aboriginal business with human resources and payroll and people who can do it all.

“When I started there were probably three of us, now … as we levered our overheads down – that’s important – now probably 130 people who work for KingKira – that’s KingKira directly.”

It’s an amazing success story and Tammy is working with many Indigenous businesses. She has never given up and even gone through her own personal issues. But she is through all that and her knowledge of waste management is second to none.

“There’s a lot we can do with waste, like powering up communities and I want our young people to get involved. In the beginning it was tough and people wanted me to fail,” she says.

“Some people out there don’t want us as Aboriginal businesses to succeed, so it is tough, but don’t give up, because we are succeeding.”

“I think when you get to where I am now and I can step away a bit more and be involved in community, and that’s what I set out to do.”

Tammy has set up business hubs in Hedland and Newman – all across the Pilbara with about 50 staff based there.

And some of those staff are people she has helped give a new lease of life to.

“A lot of people ask what do I get out of business? I get to give people jobs. I have a couple of guys who when they first came to me had been in prison for 20 years.

“I look to personality so I can train them in the skills required for the job.

“They went from an operator to a supervisor and now they are training others.”

For Tammy it’s not business, it’s community and family. She works hard to ensure her staff are paid well, and their families are looked after.

“Getting the right people in all the areas, getting the right leaders, that’s going to grow you as a good business.”

“The hardest thing for me now is saying no, but I can always direct them to other good Aboriginal businesses and I can them help there.”

KingKira is now firmly established in the mining industry as a trusted organisation to do business with, but the name. Where did that come from?

“Luckily I’ve had two great kids, so the name comes from them. One from Kingston and the other from Shakira. Hence… KingKira.”

Tammy explains that it was about getting away from a traditional Aboriginal name. “We’re not just a great Aboriginal business, we’re a great business,” she says.

“I did it for my daughters, yes it’s a legacy.  But if they are not passionate for it, then they’re not running it. We have a good brand and culture and we want it to be that way.”

Shakira works in marketing in the business, Kingston is still at school. She may join the family firm, that decision, Tammy says, is up to her.

Family is key and everyone at KingKira is part of that family.

Aboriginal business is changing – for the better – and Tammy wants that to happen.

“Because we are an Aboriginal business many people just want to pay us the basic and nothing more.

“The hardest thing for us is we had to start with nothing. No funding, or hard to get.

“So how do we take advantage and get contracts? Maybe longer term deals to allow us to grow our assets that will enable to compete better with some of the big boys.”

For years banks wouldn’t help and Tammy tells a story about being turned down by a bank for a $40,000 car loan not too many years ago. “Now, I get them calling offering me a $40 million loan,” she says, laughing at the irony of it.

It’s an honest assessment of the business apartheid that has existed, but hopefully is improving as financial bodies see the growth in Indigenous business.

They now see a future, as does Tammy.  So what does her future look like?

A national growth strategy that includes setting up new Aboriginal businesses across the country is first.

“Then I’d like to look at international and help set up First Nations businesses, negotiating good agreements that include native title agreements.”

It won’t be easy, because mining companies, Tammy says, often want mobs from different parts of the country to be fighting each other.

“And while we’re fighting each other the money is not going back into the community, so we have to work together,” she says.

“It’s slowly improving and I’d love it to see it work.

“We want to stop our mob going to jail, we want our communities to not have to rely on government handouts. We want our kids to get better education.

“We all want the same outcomes.”

Tammy would love to sit down and tell her story to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Malarndirri McCarthy.

“Talk to her about our achievements and what we can share as businesses. And investing in business other than mining,” she says.

“Mining is going to close one day, so we have to start looking at businesses outside of that sector.

“There needs to be more support.”

And support is very much on Tammy’s mind when we discuss what advice she would give to someone walking into her office with a start-up idea.

“If it’s something you are passionate about never shy away from it but,  why do you want to do it? And be aware it’s not easy, hard work and a lot of hours and … and this is important …  family support. That is crucial.

“A lot of people will look at your success but they never ever look at where you have failed as well.

“There’s a lot of failure but if you allow that to take control you will never win.”

Tammy admits she failed with four or five different businesses before she got it right.

“So if you see me doing well now you also need to understand that Tammy failed a few times as well. If you are passionate, never give up.”

 

“I’d love to travel and see the world, that would be great.”

Regrets?

“I am a person that learns from mistakes. I think that’s healthy.  I don’t think I regret anything.  I like to look forward. Life has been fun, crazy, mad, emotional.”

The rollercoaster of life for Tammy O’Connor continues.

She still wants to do more. To work together to help the next generation achieve their dreams.

“We are making the big companies more accountable. Is it going to get better for us? I think it will.

“Agreements done back in day, none of us understood native title. We are now getting better outcomes. There are more opportunities. It’s a matter of time, but it’s not going to improve if we are fighting each other.

“Let’s work together. We have the knowledge to make it work.”