Baidam achieves Social Traders certification

Baidam has reinforced its commitment to social inclusion by achieving a certification to social enterprise and performances industry body Social Traders.

Established in 2008, Social Traders is a Melbourne-based organisation that assists social enterprises in showing their credibility and growing trade revenue and businesses in delivering and reporting on social performance.

Baidam co-founder Jack Reis said obtaining the certification gives the service provider the opportunity to highlight how Baidam as a business is supporting various Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander communities.

“It validates what we’ve been doing since our inception – actually giving back and creating real opportunities for change rather than paying lip service to the notion as a business growth strategy,” he said.

“We are committed to following through on what we promise and believe it’s important that others do as well.”

Baidam said it returns over 50 per cent of its profits to gap bridging initiatives, as well as contributed to the establishment of scholarships for Indigenous STEM students at University of Queensland (Brisbane), Australian National University (ACT) and Edith Cowan University (Western Australia). 

Additionally, it has also raised over $110,000 through its ‘making a difference’ fundraising golf days in support of the the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS) Queensland and Deadly Choices.

“Our goal is not only to fund change, but inspire it,” Reis added. “For example, last year Baidam worked with Deadly Choices to fly ten children from the Torres Straits (a two-stage journey) to Brisbane, where they toured our unique First Nations’ co-designed SOC (Security Operations Centre).

“This event was designed to inspire these youngsters to consider a future in technology – and we’ve been told that they’re still talking about the visit!”

The certification also aligns with Baidam’s business movements in the last 12 months. For example, in May last year, the provider signed a partnership agreement with Google to promote cyber security careers for individuals from underrepresented communities.

Additionally, four months later in September, Baidam teamed up with Infoblox in a joint effort to take down fake websites and scam domains using the Domain Name System (DNS).

At the time, Reis said while fraudulent domains are a rising threat for any organisation, indigenous and regional businesses are particularly vulnerable to fraud.

Baidam’s own efforts for social inclusion have also been recognised and celebrated by the industry, as represented by its win of the Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) award at the 2024 ARN Innovation Awards.

Earlier this month, Reis and fellow co-owner Philip Jenkinson began a nationwide search to fill the newly created role of managing director to be based in Sydney.