Melbourne University is launching an Indigenous business leadership centre, the first of its kind in Australia.
The centre will be named Dilin Duwa, which means "everlasting flow" in the Woi Wurrung language of the Wurundjeri people.
Dilin Duwa director, Associate Professor Michelle Evans, told AAP that "really low" Indigenous participation at business schools is reflected in corporate Australia, but things are changing.
"I think a measure of success will be an Indigenous CEO of a top ASX company - I'm optimistic we're going to see it in the next decade," she said.
"The talent is there, it's incredible, it's just about corporations and government opening their eyes to that talent."
Professor Evans can list successful Indigenous companies operating right across the country, such as Young Guns Container Crew, which started in Brisbane, and Clothing the Gaps, based in Melbourne.
But she cites access to capital as the biggest barrier for Indigenous people in the business world, and says Aboriginal people have suffered financial exclusion for generations.
"We want the centre to democratise business education," she said.
Indigenous businesses were worth just under five billion dollars to the Australian economy in 2017/18, according to an analysis of ABS data.
Professor Evans says the actual figure is likely far higher - but the research to find out how much Aboriginal businesses are really worth has not yet been done.
Dilin Duwa will offer a graduate certificate qualification and soon expand to a masters degree.
The Centre has won an ARC research grant to examine Indigenous preferential procurements in corporations and governments.
