The University of Wollongong's (UOW) business incubator and accelerator iAccelerate has received almost $1 million to deliver education programs to support 90 of the most promising entrepreneurs and business owners in bushfire affected areas to create 300 new jobs.
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The $999,570 funding from the Federal and NSW governments' combined Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLER) will bring the iAccelerate program to 10 bushfire-affected regions, including four Local Aboriginal Land Council areas.
Building on the success of the existing Bega Valley Innovation Hub, which iAccelerate launched in 2019 to drive regional innovation, the new project will target bushfire-affected regions by offering entrepreneurs access to economic resilience programs for industry and business development.
The funding awarded will allow UOW to work with specific local government areas to deliver the program through local facilitators.
The program will roll out in the Bega Valley Shire, Eurobodalla Shire, Goulburn Mulwaree, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Snowy Monaro, Wingecarribee Shire, as well as four Local Aboriginal Land Councils.
Chris Petersilge, iAccelerate Ecosystem Evangelist said that in addition to increasing economic resilience, the program will also help to keep young people in the regions by providing employment and business opportunities.
"Having launched the Bega Valley Innovation Hub in NSW's far South Coast, iAccelerate is familiar with the challenges and opportunities faced with supporting regional entrepreneurs. With over a decade of creating new industries and over 700 jobs in Wollongong, we're ready to bring this model created in the Bega Valley to more bushfire-affected areas," Mr Petersilge said.
UOW will also be working in close partnership with the NSW Aboriginal Land Council's Yarpa Indigenous Business and Employment Hub (Yarpa) to deliver the program to bushfire affected Indigenous communities in NSW.
Since 2019, UOW has had a Memorandum of Understanding with the NSW Aboriginal Land Council.
Last year, Yarpa licensed the iAccelerate 'Activate' program to run a pilot for their entrepreneurs, working with the business incubator to adapt the job-creating program to the needs of Indigenous entrepreneurs in NSW to strengthen and grow the Indigenous start-up sector.
This new project will build on the pilot to deliver more training, connections, and support for Indigenous entrepreneurs in bushfire-affected communities to help them start their own businesses as a form of economic independence and prosperity.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
