Deadline: 26 May 2020
The ygap First Gens program supports early stage, migrant and refugee-led, social impact ventures/business that are improving the lives of people living in disadvantage in Australia and or addressing a social issue.
In Australia, migrants and refugees continue to face increased challenges when starting a business, participating in the community and searching for employment. These challenges include:
- Access to funding;
- Access to social networks;
- Access to information;
- Discrimination.
Ygap developed the First Gens program to address these challenges by providing funding, world-class training and access to ygap’s extensive network of mentors, investors, advisors and supporters, and a supportive community.
Successful applicants will receive world-class training, tailored business support, access to ygap’s extensive network of technical and entrepreneurial mentors, funding opportunities and a community of exceptional, like-minded entrepreneurs.
The Program
- Accelerate
- The program kicks off with a five-day intensive entrepreneurship program designed to fast track your early-stage venture.
- Support
- Following the accelerator, ygap provides a tailored support package valued at over $50,000 which includes access to ygap extensive network of technical and entrepreneurial mentors, pitching opportunities, access to pro-bono professional service providers (legal, accounting, finance, etc) and small grants to test new ideas for your venture.
- Growth
- The most promising, viable ventures from each cohort will move into the growth phase where they will have access to an increased support package with up to $50,000 available in funding.
Ygap is looking for:
- Migrant or Refugee-Led: The venture must be migrant or refugee-led or must have at least one migrant or refugee co-founder who will participate in the program.
- Early Stage: Ventures that have launched and/or have run a pilot and shown proof of concept. They typically look for ventures that have less than 100 customers and have been operating for 1-3 years.
- Supports Those Living in Disadvantage/Impact-Focused: The venture must be improving the lives of people who are experiencing disadvantage in Australia and /or addressing a social issue.
- Innovative: The venture must have a clearly defined unique selling proposition and be doing something different from others who might be doing similar.
- You have a deep understanding of the issue: You and your team should know the ecosystem deeply, whether through lived experience or from working in the sector, and be committed to addressing the issue in the long term.
- You want to connect and grow: You are eager to learn from, share and connect with an amazing, supportive community.
For more information, visit https://ygap.org/firstgens/