DKA’s enter­prise devel­op­ment pro­gram, DKAc­cel­er­a­tor, has com­plet­ed deliv­ery of its six-month inten­sive busi­ness coach­ing sched­ule to four select­ed Indige­nous businesses:

• Spinifex Skate­boards; a skate brand and youth pro­gram on East­ern Arrernte Country
• Kere to Coun­try; a dis­rup­tive social enter­prise address­ing food security
• Stick Mob Stu­dio; a graph­ic nov­el group cre­at­ing sto­ries inspired by lived experiences
• Stan­d­ley Chasm; a lead­ing Arrernte cul­ture tourism enterprise

Between May and Novem­ber 2021, DKAc­cel­er­a­tor sup­port­ed the local enter­pris­es in refin­ing busi­ness strate­gies, build­ing dig­i­tal capa­bil­i­ty and mak­ing bet­ter use of avail­able tech­nolo­gies, devel­op­ing mar­ket­ing strate­gies, and stream­lin­ing oper­a­tions. The deliv­ery sched­ule was unique to each of the par­tic­i­pat­ing busi­ness­es and respond­ed to their indi­vid­ual needs.

“It’s been a great priv­i­lege to work so inti­mate­ly with this group of lead­ers, and I have learned a lot from them. I’m excit­ed to fol­low their devel­op­ment and inevitable suc­cess in years to come.”

- Jamie Toyne (Pro­gram Director/​Business Coach, DKAccelerator)

The select­ed entre­pre­neurs each had access to a work­space at DKA’s Busi­ness & Inno­va­tion Cen­tre, as well as a ​‘growth fund’ to invest into build­ing dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy capa­bil­i­ties with­in their busi­ness. They attend­ed week­ly coach­ing ses­sions and reg­u­lar peer-to-peer lead­er­ship activ­i­ties on-coun­try, at their place of work, or at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, ensur­ing cul­tur­al safe­ty and a pro­duc­tive work­space with access to dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy facilities.

DKAc­cel­er­a­tor is devel­oped and led by Pro­gram Director/​Business Coach Jamie Toyne, and sup­port­ed by Dig­i­tal Growth Part­ner Jane Aran­de­lovic. The two expe­ri­enced entre­pre­neurs were insert­ed into the work teams of each busi­ness where they worked along­side each oth­er as a team. In addi­tion, every entre­pre­neur had a des­ig­nat­ed day dur­ing each week of the pro­gram to work along­side Jamie and Jane, where they worked towards their goals as a team and had 1‑on‑1 coach­ing sessions.

“I think when you’re work­ing with First Nations peo­ple and First Nations busi­ness­es, rela­tion­ships are real­ly impor­tant. And it’s been great to work with two peo­ple that we could trust.”

- Jes­si­ca Wishart (CEO, Kere to Country)

The busi­ness­es con­tin­ue to have access to coach­ing from Jamie, and use of DKA’s Busi­ness & Inno­va­tion Cen­tre until March 2022.

The DKAc­cel­er­a­tor pilot pro­gram sits with­in a larg­er enter­prise devel­op­ment research project which com­menced in Novem­ber 2020, fund­ed by the NT Government’s Depart­ment of Indus­try, Tourism and Trade. It was estab­lished to research, design and pilot a pro­gram to sup­port the devel­op­ment of First Nations enter­pris­es across Cen­tral Aus­tralia, and inves­ti­gate how gov­ern­ment fund­ing and ser­vices can bet­ter sup­port Indige­nous entre­pre­neurs in the region.

The program’s eval­u­a­tion is cur­rent­ly under­way, with response from par­tic­i­pat­ing organ­i­sa­tions, the NT Gov­ern­ment, and part­ner organ­i­sa­tions being over­whelm­ing­ly positive.