Prime Minister visits River City Labs

20 May 2021 – For immediate release.

River City Labs on Tuesday hosted the Prime Minister, the Hon. Scott Morrison, MP, and Senator the Hon. Amanda Stoker, Assistant Minister for Women for the launch of the Accelerator for Enterprising Women’s $60,000 Kickstarter Challenge.

The Kickstarter Challenge is part of the national Accelerator for Enterprising Women initiative funded by the Australian Government’s Women’s Leadership and Development Program run by COSBOA, the Council of Small Business Australia.

“It was a great to welcome the Prime Minister here for the launch of the Kickstarter Challenge and River City Labs is excited to be involved with the program,” said Pauline Fetaui, General Manager of River City Labs.

“We were delighted to be asked by program delivery partners 89 Degrees East, to help launch the Kickstarter Challenge to promote female entrepreneurs, something RCL has been at the forefront of doing over recent years.”

Open to all women (or those who identify as female) in Australia aged 18 - 24 who have a business or entrepreneurial idea, the Kickstarter Challenge offers up to $60,000 in seed capital funding for female entrepreneurs who are looking to grow their business idea.

Winners will also receive mentorship and industry support to bring their business and entrepreneurial ideas to life.

At the launch, the Kickstarter Challenges program delivery partners, 89 Degrees East, released a report finding gender inequality in entrepreneurship and STEM represents a significant missed opportunity for Australia’s economy.

The 89 Degrees East finding was highlighted by ACS’ 2021 Digital Pulse which identified a missed opportunity of $11bn over the next twenty years due to gender inequality. Digital Pulse, prepared by Deloitte Access Economics and released last week, also projected that achieving gender parity in the ICT industry could alone generate 5,000 jobs per annum over the next 20 years.

“I wish there had been an amazing program like the Accelerator for Enterprising Women when I left school!” Continued Fetaui, “programs that provide opportunities to encourage young people to test their ideas and invest in their pursuits, the pathway to an entrepreneurial future is now much quicker.  

“We can all benefit from seeing programs like Enterprising Women excel and we at River City Labs and the Australia Computer Society are excited to be here today to launch the Enterprising Women Kickstarter Challenge.”

River City Labs is the Brisbane arm of ACS’ network of startup to scale-up and innovation labs which includes Sydney’s Harbour City Labs and Melbourne’s Bay City Labs.

Since River City Labs’ 2012 founding, more than 700 start-up founders have set up office in the Brisbane space which has hosted more than 1,000 start-up and community events. It has run programs in partnership with some of Australia’s biggest companies, including BOQ, CUA, EY, Federation University, Suncorp and Telstra.

The River City Labs Accelerator has graduated 28 Queensland-based start-ups including Travello, Maxwell MRI and Punta. The Pre-Accelerator Program has seen 34 Startups graduate since March 2020. Startup Catalyst takes start-ups, investors, corporates, tech-savvy youth, and innovation leaders to international start-up hotspots including Silicon Valley, London, Berlin, Israel, and Asia and most recently Domestic AgTech Missions.

Finalists in the Kickstarter Challenge will also win a trip to Canberra to pitch their ideas to an expert panel of judges. Applications for the Kickstarter Challenge are now open at www.enterprising-women.com.au and close at the end of August 2021. Judges will include leading Australian entrepreneurs, politicians and industry leaders.

-ENDS-

Further information

Troy Steer

Director of Corporate Affairs and Public Policy

M – 0417 173 740

E – troy.steer@acs.org.au

About River City Labs

River City Labs fosters the growth of startup companies wanting to solve big problems. We provide resources to empower, support and connect entrepreneurs. Central to everything we do is a focus on collaboration and connection.

Since 2012 over 700 entrepreneurs have called RCL home. Through our events program we have welcomed more than 29,000 guests into our community by hosting over 1000 events aimed at supporting founders on their entrepreneurship journey.

River City Labs powers a range of programs, events and engagement opportunities, enabling our corporate partners to innovate differently and embed their teams within the start-up community.

About ACS

ACS is the professional association for Australia's technology sector. More than 48,000 ACS members work in business, education, government and the community. ACS exists to create the environment and provide the opportunities for members and partners to succeed. ACS strives technology professionals to be recognised as drivers of innovation in our society, relevant across all sectors, and to promote the formulation of effective policies on technology and related matters. Visit www.acs.org.au for more information.