How Disability Enterprises—and Disability-Led Innovation—Can Power Growth

When Clutch Glue secured shelf space with a major UK retailer, they faced a dream-turned-nightmare: double the demand, half the timeline. Their solution? A partnership with Thorndale Industries, a long-established Australian Disability Enterprise that mobilised a team of 40 workers to re-label and repackage over 10,000 units.

The story is a great example of how social enterprises and disability organisations play a vital, often unseen, role in helping startups scale with integrity. But let’s be clear—this isn’t about “giving people with disabilities a chance.” It’s about recognising their value, elevating their leadership, and co-creating growth on more equal footing.

In fact, if we’re going to build a truly inclusive economy, we need to move beyond partnerships where people with disabilities are simply hired. We need more partnerships led by people with disabilities. We need to fund and back disability-led enterprises.

This Isn’t a Favour—It’s a Force for Innovation

I remember a pilot project I helped launch in 2009 between Dynamic EcoSolutions, Brisbane City Council and the Endeavour Foundation. We recycled decommissioned traffic lanterns, creating over 5,000 paid employment hours for people with disabilities. That pilot didn’t just deliver environmental wins—it created new revenue streams, catalysed organisational change, and contributed to a broader push for wage equity in supported employment.

It worked because it wasn’t designed as a charity initiative. It was a business and impact strategy, driven by mutual respect and shared outcomes.

The same principle holds true today. When we talk about disability inclusion in the business ecosystem, we need to ask:

• Who’s in the room?
  
• Who’s at the table?
  
• Who’s leading the work?
  

Because the goal isn’t just “helping people with disabilities participate in the economy.”
The goal is an economy where disabled people shape the market—as employers, founders, inventors, and decision-makers.

Two Overlooked Opportunities for Founders

There are two powerful opportunities founders should consider—especially if you’re impact-focused or preparing for funding:

1. Partnering with Disability Enterprises

Australian Disability Enterprises (ADEs) are social businesses that provide supported employment for people with disabilities. They offer high-quality services in:

• Packaging, logistics, and labelling
  
• Recycling and e-waste
  
• Food and hospitality
  
• Manufacturing and grounds maintenance
  
• Digital marketing and strategy
• Business consulting focused on equity and inclusion

When you engage them as part of your strategy team or supply chain, you’re not outsourcing a problem—you’re strengthening your capability while contributing to economic inclusion.

But don’t stop at transactional contracts. These partnerships work best when you co-design together. Invite early. Understand operational capacity. Listen to vision and goals.

2. Backing Disability-Led Startups and Social Enterprises

There is a growing wave of founders with disabilities creating innovative products, services, and solutions—often based on lived experience. These are not “inspirational” side projects. These are scalable, investable businesses.

If you're serious about inclusive impact, ask yourself:

• Are we collaborating with founders with disability?
  
• Are we platforming their ideas—not just supporting their logistics?
  
• Are we designing grants and funding pipelines that truly include them?
  

This isn’t just ethical—it’s strategic. Businesses built by people with lived experience of barriers often solve problems others can’t see. That’s a competitive edge. 

For Funders and Grantmakers: Pay Attention to the How

If you're assessing grants or building funding programs, look beyond the what. Look at the how. Are people with disabilities represented in leadership, not just as “beneficiaries”? Are applications co-designed or led by people with lived experience?

If we want to fund genuine inclusion, we have to change the lens.
Impact labour is not the same as impact leadership.

So, Where to Begin?

If you’re a founder preparing your next grant application—or simply trying to build a more resilient, purpose-led business—here’s how to start:

• Reframe your partnerships: Don't just ask who can help you deliver. Ask: Who can I build something meaningful with?
  
• Include, but also elevate: If you're working with a disability enterprise, be transparent about how value flows both ways. Who benefits—and how?
  
• Seek out disability-led partners: Whether you're a funder or fellow founder, start sourcing innovation from disability-led organisations.
  
• Measure more than outputs: Count the leadership roles, the decision-making power, the co-ownership of outcomes. That’s where true impact lives.
  

Final Word

Disability inclusion in business isn’t a tick-box. It’s a blueprint for better innovation, deeper impact, and shared success.

And if you’re writing a grant application that asks for “measurable outcomes”?
Start here: Who’s in charge of the change you’re creating?

Let’s move from using disability enterprises to partnering with and backing disability-led ventures.
Because real impact is shared. And the future we’re building includes everyone—not just at the table, but at the head of it.