Down­load pro­gram overview.

Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia has received $326,000 in grant fund­ing from the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Government’s Depart­ment of Indus­try, Tourism and Trade to research, design and pilot a pro­gram to sup­port the devel­op­ment of First Nations enter­pris­es across Cen­tral Australia.

Pro­gram Objectives

• Devel­op an impact­ful eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment strat­e­gy for First Nations enter­pris­es, which can be replicated.
• Sup­port First Nations start-ups to grow and devel­op into sus­tain­able businesses.
• Respond to unique socio­cul­tur­al bar­ri­ers by deliv­er­ing appro­pri­ate and con­tex­tu­al support.
• Build dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy capa­bil­i­ties to over­come bar­ri­ers, solve busi­ness prob­lems, and cap­ture opportunities.

A small team of expe­ri­enced entre­pre­neurs will work along­side First Nations founders to devel­op and imple­ment a self-gen­er­at­ing growth mod­el in their busi­ness, by build­ing the nec­es­sary lead­er­ship and deci­sion-mak­ing skills, oper­a­tional know-how and tech­ni­cal capability.

The DKAc­cel­er­a­tor has been devel­oped based on pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary research, as well as con­sul­ta­tions with key stake­hold­ers, includ­ing local entre­pre­neurs and ser­vice providers in the Abo­rig­i­nal Eco­nom­ic Devel­op­ment network.

The program’s pre­lim­i­nary objec­tive was to con­duct research on both Abo­rig­i­nal busi­ness­es and busi­ness sup­port ser­vices across the region, and to eval­u­ate gaps in busi­ness devel­op­ment sup­port and under­stand how they can be filled. A region­al analy­sis explored many aspects of First Nations entre­pre­neurs and busi­ness­es, and high­light­ed the dis­tinct dif­fer­ences between Abo­rig­i­nal and non-Abo­rig­i­nal entre­pre­neur­ship. Specif­i­cal­ly, the research involved under­stand­ing moti­va­tions for start­ing and run­ning a busi­ness; the def­i­n­i­tion and met­rics of suc­cess; and socio-cul­tur­al chal­lenges faced by First Nations founders in Cen­tral Australia.

The pilot pro­gram is designed to address eco­nom­ic bar­ri­ers iden­ti­fied in the research, and fill a gap in the exist­ing sup­port net­work for First Nations enter­pris­es. The pro­gram focus­es on help­ing entre­pre­neurs build momen­tum and con­fi­dence in their busi­ness by pro­vid­ing inten­sive, respon­sive, hands-on sup­port through men­tor­ship, project-based learn­ing and a cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate frame­work. The program’s approach is to inte­grate and add val­ue to the entre­pre­neurs’ exist­ing sup­port net­work, help­ing them accel­er­ate the growth of their business.

The pilot pro­gram will run for 24 weeks between May and Decem­ber 2021, where a select group of First Nations entre­pre­neurs will work along­side a small team of expe­ri­enced facil­i­ta­tors. The entre­pre­neurs will progress through four phas­es of devel­op­ment: (i) dis­cov­ery and plan­ning, (ii) foun­da­tion and scal­a­bil­i­ty, (iii) growth and accel­er­a­tion, and (iv) automa­tion and future plan­ning. The pro­gram will be deliv­ered on coun­try and at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, ensur­ing cul­tur­al safe­ty and a pro­duc­tive work­space with access to dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy facilities.

The DKAc­cel­er­a­tor pro­gram is led by Jamie Toyne, who grew up in Mparn­twe (Alice Springs) and is the founder and CEO of an inter­na­tion­al busi­ness con­sult­ing group called Dealflow Bro­ker­age. Jamie start­ed Dealflow whilst liv­ing in San Fran­cis­co to help entre­pre­neurs start, devel­op, grow and exit their busi­ness. Since return­ing home after 13 years abroad, Jamie has been sup­port­ing local entre­pre­neurs and First Nations organ­i­sa­tions to devel­op sus­tain­able self-gen­er­at­ed income streams.