Yes -- NDIS funding can support a participant to build a micro business, where their plan includes a goal around employment or economic participation. The support is not funding the business itself (stock, equipment, business loans); it funds the capacity-building work of getting the business running -- the skills, the systems, and the technical build a participant's disability might make difficult to do alone.
What the funding actually pays for
In practice, this means things like: setting up a website, a shop, booking and payment systems, and social accounts, through the participant's own individual program - they design every decision, with hands-on guidance where their disability makes a step hard to do alone. It is skill-building and capacity building toward a real outcome, not a cash grant and not business costs like inventory, insurance, or a shopfront lease.
Where it sits in a plan
This kind of support is typically billed under Supports in Employment, within the Core budget, where a participant's plan includes an employment or economic participation goal. The exact line item and rate depend on the participant's individual plan and state, and are always confirmed with their plan manager or support coordinator.
Who can access it
Both plan-managed and self-managed participants can engage an unregistered provider for this kind of support -- registration is not required for every support category. If a participant is agency-managed, their options are more limited, and it is worth checking with their support coordinator what is possible under that plan type.
What it is not
This is capacity building and skill development -- not therapy, not clinical treatment, and not a guarantee of income. No one can promise how much a business will earn. What this funding can realistically deliver is a real, working business the participant directs and owns, built around something they already care about.
See the full breakdown of what this looks like in practice, including a real example, on the NDIS micro business support page.