But somehow I finished year 12 and received a special and positive mention at our school graduation, despite not turning up to approximately 30% of school days and ending up with below-average school scores. Only a few classmates received a special mention at our graduation, and I think many people were shocked that I was one of them, let alone being told I would eventually become successful in something one day. I wasn’t sure what that thing was.

I didn’t feel I was smart enough to go to university with below-average grades, so I joined the Royal Australian Air Force, which is pretty funny in hindsight because I was in the last semester of my master’s degree at the Queensland University of Technology, and the Air Force was definitely harder. Joining the Air Force was a dream because I had always wanted to serve in the Australian Defence Force like my grandfather, who fought in numerous locations during World War II and was one of the Rats of Tobruk.

However, after a friend in the Air Force gave me a book on entrepreneurship and when I started learning about entrepreneurs like Richard Branson who I believe are making a real difference in the world, I decided to leave the Air Force after 5 years to learn about what it takes to run and grow businesses. It became apparent to me that Indigenous Australians had a lack of positive role models in business and a lack of awareness of pathways to starting and growing a business.

In addition, I discovered organisations that are given 10s of millions of taxpayer funding every year to help Indigenous entrepreneurs weren’t that helpful – the most help I got from them after being told they could help me was “if you want to own a cafe, go work in a cafe”. I now believe Indigenous entrepreneurship is the high-growth and impact solution that will help close the disparity and opportunity gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. And with over 50% of Indigenous Australians under the age of 25, the youth have to stand up and help lead the way.

Despite not receiving the kind of funding available to larger organisations, Barayamal has run the world’s first Indigenous business accelerator program, Australia’s first Indigenous Startup Weekend, and a CoderDojo focused on supporting Indigenous youth to learn coding. Barayamal officially began in April 2017, and the work has been recognised through national awards including the CSIRO Indigenous STEM Early Career Award and the Entrepreneurship Award at the Australian Digital Excellence Awards.

Indigenous business leaders provide role models, leadership and practical pathways for our community members. That ripple effect is why Barayamal continues to back First Nations entrepreneurship, accountability and community-led development.