Indigital - Helping communities tell stories in new ways

Mikaela Jade, a Cabrogal woman from Sydney, is the CEO and founder of the digital technology company Indigital.

Mikaela was one of 21 Indigenous entrepreneurs and innovators who attended the Prime Minister‘s reception at Parliament House recently. The event showcased Indigenous entrepreneurs and connected them with influential business leaders. It also encouraged corporate leaders to continue their efforts to increase Indigenous employment and use of Indigenous businesses in supply chains.

Based in Kakadu, Indigital works with rural, remote and regional communities across Australia with new technologies like virtual and augmented reality.

Indigital works in partnership with Indigenous communities to create digital products that are desirable, purposeful and honour past generations. It is designed to meet the needs of current and future generations for economic development. This is all done through the Digital Rangers mobile phone application.

“Indigenous economic development is so important for our people and new technologies allow us to bridge the gap in education, health and jobs. Being able to use digital technologies to create our own employment opportunities on our country is really exciting,” Mikaela said.

“My inspiration came from my family story. My family was disconnected from our cultural heritage and I always wondered when I was ‘on country’ what the story of our land and people was.  I saw new technologies as a way to be able to bridge that gap and give people an opportunity to learn about Indigenous culture.”

“Culture forms the basis of everything we do. My culture and the cultures of the communities that we work with across Australia are very important and, while we have a digital technology company, everything starts with culture before technology.

“We sit ‘on country ‘and we talk about how people like to share their stories, we talk about what it means to digitise culture in an ethical manner and then we get creating which is the exciting part.”

As a young entrepreneur Mikaela has this advice for people looking at starting their own business.

“I think there are two really important things that I like to share with people from my own journey. First is the power of collaboration, so that means having an idea but not being afraid to ask for help and work with others to make it happen,” Mikaela said.

“The second thing is not giving up, because being an entrepreneur can be a long journey. Sometimes you feel as though you are not going to get there, but if you persevere with it, you will.”

Mikaela and her team have been selected to participate in 'Collision’, one of America’s fastest growing technology conferences in New Orleans later this year. This will see Indigital positioned in front of leading technology media and investors to help showcase Indigital to a global audience.

In May, she will attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues in New York as a part of Tribal Link Foundation’s 'Project Access', where they will present a side event focusing on technology and Indigenous peoples.