Five First Nations businesses will be selected for the Barayamal Accelerator at the Victorian Innovation Hub, Barayamal said in a statement.
The three-month program will support First Nations businesses to break through the COVID-19 challenges to grow their businesses by providing mentoring and training by industry experts, $50,000 in grant funding, and showcasing their businesses at the national Demo Day & Awards event on 27 November 2020.
Barayamal ran the first Indigenous Accelerator in November 2016 and will be running its second program in Victoria on 7 September.
Last year, Barayamal launched its own network aimed at facilitating collaboration, networking and mentoring of Indigenous entrepreneurs and business owners.
“[Our membership comprises] successful Indigenous entrepreneurs, technologist and community members who want to help each other and grow the Indigenous economy to create more opportunities in our communities that will help close the disparity gap through economic development,” said Barayamal founder and chief executive Dean Foley.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for the Indigenous community to collaborate and work together to create a better Australia for everyone.”
In 2018, Barayamal was one of four organisations to be a recipient of $1.37 million in funding from the Victorian government specifically designed to support start-ups and entrepreneurship among Indigenous communities.
The other recipients of the funding provided by the state’s start-up agency LaunchVic were:
- Global Sisters – delivering workshops on start-up thinking and incubation for regional Victorian Aboriginal women
- Ngarrimili – running a series of workshops in rural Victoria and an incubator program
- Ngamai Moorroop Wilin – an RMIT organisation running regular Ngamai meet-ups to build a community of Aboriginal entrepreneurs
