The Andrews Labor Government today announced the recipients of $1.37 million in funding to strengthen entrepreneurship and startup activity amongst Aboriginal Victorians.
Supported by Victoria’s startup agency LaunchVic, four organisations will deliver education, acceleration, incubation and mentoring programs that focus on startup thinking, global engagement and the use of disruptive technology for Aboriginal entrepreneurs.
The four organisations that will share in the funding are:
- Barayamal – Australia’s first Indigenous focussed startup accelerator which will deliver Victoria’s Indigenous Business Accelerator Program.
- Global Sisters – will deliver workshops on startup thinking and incubation for regional Victorian Aboriginal women.
- Ngarrimili – will run a series of workshops in rural Victoria and an incubator program.
- Ngamai Moorroop Wilin – RMIT organisation that will run regular Ngamai meetups to build a community of Aboriginal entrepreneurs.
According to 2011 Census data the rate of entrepreneurship for non-Aboriginal Australians is approximately three times more than that of Aboriginal Australians.
However, soon to be released data from LaunchVic’s annual mapping of the Victorian startup sector found that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians make up two per cent of Victoria’s startup founders while representing only one per cent of Victoria’s population, reinforcing the potential for programs of this nature.
This funding is part of the Tharamba Bugheen Victorian Aboriginal Business Strategy 2017-2021, which sets out the Labor Government’s vision for helping Aboriginal Victorians become innovative entrepreneurs and business leaders.
