Startup weekend to lift Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in digital economy

A startup weekend to help young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from regional and remote communities develop their business ideas and entrepreneurial skills opens in Brisbane today [Friday, 26 August 2016].

Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business, Leeanne Enoch, congratulated the organisers of Australia’s First Indigenous Startup Weekend, who obtained a Palaszczuk Government’s Advance Queensland Young Starters’ grant of $13,500 to help stage the event.

“We need to do everything we can to encourage Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to develop their business ideas and skills,” Ms Enoch said.

“There are so many positives that flow from increasing self-employment rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, not least of which is building a sustainable future for our young people.

“Delegates at this event will take the skills they learn back to their communities where they can share the knowledge and work together to build opportunities for economic independence.”

The startup weekend is a social impact initiative organised by entrepreneur Dean Foley and QUT Indigenous Employment Coordinator Troy Casey, two Kamilaroi men from the Gunnedah region of New South Wales.

It is being held at The Edge, part of the State Library of Queensland in the South Bank cultural precinct, from 26 to 28 August.

Mr Foley was successful in obtaining the Advance Queensland Young Starters’ grant to assist with delivery of the event.

“Australia’s First Indigenous Startup Weekend is a 54-hour not-for-profit event where you get to be part of starting a business in a weekend,” Mr Foley said.

“This will help build strong Indigenous communities by developing capacities for aspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs, aged 18 to 24, to take their current idea or the next much further than they think that they are capable of.”

Mr Casey said ‘Closing the Gap’ on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander equality needed to be a priority for the whole of Australia.

“With over 60 per cent of the Indigenous population living in regional and remote areas of the country, we are not only faced with the inequality of health and education, but also what is now known as the ‘digital divide’,” he said.

“There is an urgency to develop sustainable economic models of progression and take critical measures to embed solutions into policy and outreach programs.

“There are still some communities without access to the internet, which is a huge disadvantage when we look at potential economic development opportunities.”

Minister Enoch said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and their communities needed to be part of the discussion around innovation and jobs growth.

“All communities must have the opportunity to build businesses and be part of the digital economy,” she said.

“I hope the Indigenous startup weekend will become an annual event and create jobs and economic opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Islander people,” Ms Enoch said.

For more information about the Young Starters’ Fund, visit the Advance Queensland website.

Media contact: Daniel Lato 0438 830 201