A new organisation seeking to strengthen the relationship between multicultural communities, businesses, government and industry has officially launched in Western Sydney, with the Australian Multicultural Community & Business Chamber (AMCBC) opening its doors at a major event in Parramatta.

The official launch was held at Novotel Parramatta on Friday, 25 September 2026, bringing together close to 300 business owners, community leaders, emerging entrepreneurs and representatives from government and industry.

NSW Premier Chris Minns attended the launch as Guest of Honour, alongside Member for Parramatta Donna Davis MP and Member for Leppington Nathan Hagarty MP.

Connecting multicultural Australia

Founded by multicultural community leader and small business owner Brian Laul, the AMCBC has been established around a simple but ambitious idea: creating a place where community, business, government and industry can connect and turn relationships into practical opportunities.

Speaking at the launch, Laul emphasised collaboration and collective advocacy, noting that businesses and communities often face similar challenges and share many of the same ambitions.

“We all have the same problems, and, most of us, we share the same ambitions. We have the same struggles,” Laul said.

“But if we get together and learn from each other, and raise our voice together, how much stronger would that be?”

AMCBC Co-Founder and Vice President Ronna Guzman reinforced that vision, describing community, business and government as interconnected parts of the same ecosystem.

For Guzman, the next step in Australian multiculturalism is not simply celebrating diversity, but connecting that diversity with economic opportunity, professional networks, government and the wider business community.

That mission has particular relevance in New South Wales. According to the 2021 Census, 29.3 per cent of NSW residents were born overseas, while nationally more than seven million Australians were overseas-born.

Premier highlights Western Sydney’s entrepreneurs

In his address, Premier Chris Minns highlighted the contribution of migrants and second-generation Australians to entrepreneurship and small business, particularly across Western Sydney.

Recent Business NSW analysis provides further context to that growth. It found Western Sydney was increasingly becoming a major centre of business creation, with Blacktown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Fairfield, Cumberland and Liverpool among the NSW areas recording strong growth in businesses employing people between 2017 and 2025. Business NSW said Western Sydney was on track to overtake eastern Sydney in the number of businesses employing people within 15 years.

Minns told the launch that he hoped established businesspeople within the AMCBC would mentor younger entrepreneurs and share the practical knowledge that comes from experience.

“What I hope this business chamber will do is see experienced businessmen and women grab younger people, young entrepreneurs, and mentor them,” Minns said.

His remarks reflected one of the Chamber’s central themes on the night: creating pathways for the next generation rather than simply establishing another networking organisation.

Young entrepreneurs recognised

That commitment was demonstrated through the inaugural Multicultural Young Entrepreneurs Awards, launched as part of the evening.

The awards recognised emerging entrepreneurs across fields including technology, fashion and entertainment and are expected to become an annual AMCBC initiative.

AMCBC Senior Director Abdul Khan Ratan said the program aims to identify promising young entrepreneurs, recognise their achievements and connect them with experienced business and community leaders who can provide mentoring, networks and encouragement.

The Chamber plans to complement the annual awards with an ongoing mentoring program, potentially giving young entrepreneurs access to knowledge and relationships that can often be difficult to develop when starting a business.

More than business networking

The AMCBC’s ambitions extend beyond conventional business networking.

Its model seeks to connect businesses with community organisations, encourage collaboration between cultural communities, strengthen engagement with government and industry, and provide a collective platform for issues affecting multicultural businesses.

The launch itself reflected the Chamber’s multicultural focus, with cultural performances accompanying the formal speeches, presentations and awards throughout the evening.

A new platform for multicultural enterprise

The establishment of the AMCBC comes at a time when Western Sydney’s economic importance continues to grow alongside its cultural diversity.

Rather than organising businesses solely around individual cultural or national communities, the AMCBC is seeking to create a broader network in which those communities can collaborate with one another while building stronger relationships with government and mainstream industry.

Its success will ultimately depend on how effectively that vision translates into programs, partnerships, mentoring and tangible opportunities for members.

But its launch in Parramatta brought together many of the groups it aims to connect — government, established businesses, community organisations and a new generation of entrepreneurs — providing the Chamber with a significant starting point.

For the AMCBC, the message from its first gathering was clear: Australia’s multicultural communities are not only part of the country’s social fabric, but an increasingly important part of its entrepreneurial and economic future.