Support Indigenous Entrepreneurship

Access to capital is the biggest challenge for Indigenous entrepreneurs and while venture capital firms continue to raise record amounts of cash for their billion-dollar funds, the median funding invested in Indigenous ventures remains $0.

More than $1.6 billion was raised by Aussie VCs in 2020 

We’re calling on VCs to stop talking about diversity and put their money where their mouth is and commit to investing 3% of their billion-dollar funds towards Indigenous ventures.

Indigenous people have been innovating for thousands of years, from being the world’s first bakers to building one of the world’s most comprehensive and oldest aquaculture systems, which are older than Egypt’s pyramids. 

And despite only making up 5% of the world’s population, Indigenous people protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity – the results from supporting Indigenous Entrepreneurship goes without saying.

Your Support
Do you want to join us in making a difference? Donations raised from this charity fundraiser will go towards campaigning VCs to commit to the 3% Pledge to support Indigenous Entrepreneurship and create a better world for everyone, and every donation will help.

Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that will hopefully make a real difference in our community.

If you would like to get more involved in this campaign (e.g. use your awesome powers/skills for good), please reach out to us.

Why 3%?
Large institutions and the Government are committing to a 3% employment target to help close the disparity gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and provide opportunities that haven’t been available to First Nations people who were locked out of Australia’s economy for approximately 200 years with little to no intergenerational wealth. Indigenous people make up approximately 3% of Australia’s population.

3% is a realistic and achievable goal to achieve, which will stimulate the Indigenous economy and create a better world for everyone through Indigenous Entrepreneurship.

Barayamal 
We’re a grassroots charity that believes First Nations Entrepreneurship can improve the world.

Ausbiz Interview – Median funding invested in Indigenous Entrepreneurship ventures remains $0

Barayamal Founder & CEO, Dean Foley is interviewed on Ausbiz about the lack of investment for Indigenous entrepreneurs from Aussie VCs and talks about the problem and solution (3% Pledge).

Interview notes:

• The Australian National University (ANU) conducted research that showed three in four people hold negative views of Indigenous people.
• Indigenous people know that you need to be twice as good in order to have a chance.
• Venture capital firms want you to believe that there aren’t enough minorities growing startups but I personally believe it could be systematic and explicit bias.
• We’ve heard the same arguments about female ventures but over the last 10 years, with a greater focus on diversity and inclusion, the investments in startups with a female founder have doubled, according to Pitchbook, which has a US VC Female Founders Dashboard.
• Women-founded firms dropped from 28% in 2018 to 20% in Victoria this year.
• There’s a lot more to be done but it shows when VCs focus and measure their diversity targets, things gradually improve, despite some setbacks.
• As VC funds head into 2021 with pockets full of institutional cash, we’re calling on them to “stop talking about diversity and put their money where their mouth is”. A 3% commitment is in line with the 3% employment target of government organisations and large institutions.
• They should pledge 3% because if they don’t have a commitment and focus on improving things, nothing will be done.
• Famous saying – “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.”
• It’s something Aussie VCs and large institutional investors shouldn’t be afraid of – if they don’t reach the 3% pledge one year we’re not going to publicly shame them if the VCs didn’t meet their investment criteria. In contrast, it would be a great opportunity to measure what’s working and not working and work towards getting the Indigenous ventures where they need to be for Aussie VCs to invest more.
• A study in the US covered VC investments in 2017. Those firms invested in 4,475 companies, but only1.9 percent identified as Latinx and 1 percent identified as black despite those two demographics accounting for 31% of the US population.

Is the problem a lack of “quality” Indigenous startups for Aussie VCs to invest in or systematic and explicit bias?

If you think it’s the latter, donate to our GoFundMe fundraiser so we can continue campaigning VCs to put their money where their mouth is and join the 3% Pledge.