Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network
Peak body for Indigenous businesses in the Northern Territory
The challenge
NTIBN is the peak body for Indigenous businesses in the Northern Territory, 100% Aboriginal owned, operating across multiple regional hubs, and serving hundreds of member businesses with a #Blakfirst approach to everything they do.
The project had two layers of complexity. The first was time: NTIBN needed a public-facing website live within two months. The second was scope: the full platform vision included a Hub booking system, a Blak Business Directory, and membership management, functionality that couldn't all be delivered at once.
The challenge was working out what to build first, what to sequence next, and how to build the initial site in a way that would accommodate everything that followed, including a separate backend platform that Towcha Technologies were building for the directory and membership system.
My role
Website strategy
Information architecture
Content structure
UX and design
Squarespace design and build — delivered in two phases. Phase One: public-facing website, launched within the three-month deadline. Phase Two: Hub booking system, integrated via Acuity Scheduling.
The Blak Business Directory and membership platform were delivered separately by Towcha Technologies and integrated with the Squarespace front end.
What changed
Phase One focused entirely on the public-facing site; built to serve its own brief fully, and structured from the outset to accommodate the booking system and Towcha integrations that would follow. The navigation, content hierarchy, and design all anticipated where those features would eventually sit.
The site needed to serve multiple distinct audiences simultaneously: Aboriginal business owners seeking support and connection, corporate and government procurement teams looking for Indigenous suppliers, potential members, job seekers, and community allies. The architecture was built from those audiences outward, with clear pathways for each group.
Phase Two added the Hub booking system using Acuity Scheduling (a tool available through the Squarespace platform), keeping the solution within the existing platform rather than adding complexity to the backend build.
Throughout both phases, the language and tone reflected NTIBN's own voice: culturally grounded, direct, and unapologetically centred on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and values.
The outcome
The public-facing site launched on time within the two-month deadline. The Hub booking system followed in Phase Two. The Blak Business Directory and membership platform were subsequently delivered by Towcha Technologies, integrating with the Squarespace front end as planned. NTIBN now has a complete platform, built in the right sequence, at the right scope, without unnecessary complexity at any stage.
