Entrepreneur and mining boss Katina Law and community support executive Asha Bhat have been inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame under the business category.
The 16 women inducted into the hall of fame for 2023 were announced at an awards ceremony at the Government House Ballroom on Tuesday night.
Worora and Walmajarri woman Katina Law was the first Indigenous woman to be chief executive of an ASX-listed company when she was appointed to East Africa Resources in 2012.
Her career as a mining accountant took her across the world to live and work in Indonesia, the UK, Hong Kong, the US and Africa.
In 2015, she co-founded IPS Management Consultants alongside her business partner Damien Chalk, to bring an Indigenous lens to government and large corporates.
Ms Law co-founded a second company in 2017, Dutjahn Sandalwood Oils, which sells Western Australian sandalwood oil to international perfume markets.
Ms Law is currently working on three not-for-profit organisations and said her goal is to improve the lives of Indigenous people.
“I have this underlying desire to give back,” she said.
Alongside Ms Law, Ms Bhat was inducted into the WA Women’s Hall of Fame in recognition of her contribution to business in the state.
Ms Bhat was a financial officer turned chief executive when she was appointed to lead the Southern Aboriginal Corporation in 2013.
Since then, she has established the Family Violence Prevention Legal Service as part of SAC to provide services to the Great Southern region.
Through Ms Bhat’s extensive research, the service was expanded to the South West and lower Wheatbelt regions, and later Ms Bhat partnered with Aboriginal Family Legal Services in Perth to deliver to the metro region as well.
Ms Bhat said she witnessed discrimination and disparity in India and didn’t have the tools to solve the issue, but it inspired her passion to help people in need.
“Coming to Australia and working in the not-for-profit sector, especially in an Aboriginal organisation where I’ve seen many disadvantaged people tapping into services, I believe I now have the skillset to help people who are disadvantaged and not just Aboriginal communities but the wider community too,” she said.
The WA Women’s Hall of Fame was awarded with a $33,500 grant from Lotterywest early February to support its work to recognise accomplished women.
The state government has provided the organisation with a $100,000 grant to be delivered over five years, with an additional $5,000 provided annually to fund the award ceremony.
The WA Women's Hall of Fame was established on International Women's Day in 2011.
You can read more about Ms Law and Ms Bhat in the next edition of Business News, out March 13.
