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Barayamal accelerating Phillip’s dream of success

20 June 2017
Jobs, Land and Economy
A young Aboriginal man wearing a suit and tie is speaking at a rostrum.

Barayamal, the only business accelerator program in Australia specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs, is helping young Indigenous entrepreneur Phillip Harris turn his business idea into reality.

Young entrepreneur Phillip Harris is turning his business idea into reality. 

Phillip, an Eastern Arrernte, Goolarabooloo and Wiradjuri man, is originally from Darwin but moved to Brisbane in 2013 to attend Nudgee College on a scholarship.

Now a student at the University of Queensland, Phillip has been developing a business idea that he believes will fill an important online niche.

"Similar to platforms like Airbnb and Airtasker, my idea is a two-sided online marketplace, connecting consumers to consumers,” Phillip said.

Phillip attended the recent hackathon event “Give Backathon” in Brisbane and his idea impressed the organisers of the hackathon enough to invite him to be part of Barayamal, a business accelerator program specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs in Brisbane.

Barayamal is a 3-month program where startups like Phillip’s receive mentoring from successful Indigenous entrepreneurs, free co-working space and early seed capital. Phillip says the program was just what he and his idea needed.

“I have a lot of faith in my idea and Barayamal is helping make it a reality by keeping me grounded and working with me to get my idea into action.”

Phillip plans to start programming in late June and go live in late July so he’s working around the clock to have it ready in time.

“There are similar platforms overseas but I’m planning to improve the overall user experience with a more refined web design and by automating certain processes. I’m talking to consumers about the problems they are having with other sites and where I can make it easier for them to do business.”

If Phillip’s idea is successful he’ll be leading an innovative tech company, creating jobs and keeping Australia at the forefront of the IT world. Just as importantly, he’ll be a role model to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs with an idea that could change the world.

Find out more

The Government is currently exploring ways we can better support Indigenous entrepreneurs like Phillip through a 10 year Indigenous Business Sector Strategy.

Barayamal was created by Kamilaroi man Dean Foley to help Indigenous entrepreneurs bring their ideas from concepts to reality. Barayamal runs the world-class business accelerator program, the Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurship Program and the Give Backathon, Australia's national charity hackathon that gives worthy charities valuable technology-based solutions to help increase their social impact.