Geetanjali Rangnekar
Geetanjali Rangnekar is a science communicator and editor, based in Adelaide, Australia.
This month one bright young indigenous entrepreneur will be awarded the unprecedented chance to be part of the International Startup Tour, run by Barayamal, Australia’s first indigenous business accelerator.
This “future leader” will be the winner of the Startup Challenge competition, which is part of the inaugural First Nations Youth Summit, taking place on June 28 and 29 in the Australian city of Brisbane.
The event is powered by the national science agency, CSIRO. It seeks to connect more than 100 young people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent from all over the country, with the aim of empowering and inspiring them through workshops, networking events and competitions.
Barayamal will fly the winner of the competition to the United States, together with five other bright First Nations youths. They will visit the TechCrunch Disrupt event in San Francisco, which is the coming together of start-up founders, hackers and disrupters of the technology world.
It will present the winners with opportunities to mingle with leaders in the field, watch new start-ups battle it out for the Disrupt Cup, and be part of a virtual Hackathon.
They will also have the chance to visit Native American business hubs in the state of New Mexico.
Barayamal was founded by entrepreneur Dean Foley to educate and support young indigenous Australians to reach their potential through CoderDojo coding clubs, the Budding Entrepreneurs Program, and its eMentoring initiative – all in an effort to bridge the gap between the non-indigenous and indigenous youth of Australia.
To find out more about this unique organisation, click here.
