ACU Co-Lab Migrant Incubator Series

The Migrant Incubator Series is an eight-week, in-depth learning program designed to educate future migrant and refugee changemakers about the practical components of launching their start-ups in Australia.

In this series, brought to you in partnership with Catalysr, industry experts will walk you through the key components of building and growing a small business. Join our weekly workshops as our industry experts deliver actionable knowledge and real world experiences.

In addition, you'll be able to put your new skills straight to work by crafting a video pitch for the Migrant Incubator Award - with your chance to win $10,000.

The Migrant Incubator Series is free to attend and open to university students, staff and the broader community. Topics are delivered online in an interactive format.

Register here for all workshops

What is a Lean startup?

Wednesday 2 August, 4 - 6pm AEST
Online

Attending this workshop will ensure that you understand your startup's why, what and how, as well as how to apply the lean startup methodology to get started on your journey. It will be led by Sakshi Thakur, Founder of Humanism Global and facilitated by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr.

What you will learn

• 'Starting with why' and the golden circle framework by Simon Sinek, also known as the 'Why, What, How' model.
• The Lean methodology and the Lean Canvas model.
• To apply the Lean Canvas model to a startup or business ideas and how to validate your ideas.

Speaker: Sakshi Thakur

Facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Prototyping and user-testing

Wednesday 9 August, 4 - 6pm AEST
Online

Prototyping and user-testing your ideas with potential users and customers is critical. This workshop will give you the tools to do this for your own startup ideas. It will be led by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr.

What you will learn

• Why rapid prototyping and user-testing is important.
• Participate in a virtual rapid prototyping and user testing exercise.
• The tools of rapid prototyping and user-testing, including the Google Ventures Design Sprint framework.

Speaker and facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Building a minimum viable product (MVP)

Wednesday 16 August, 4 - 6pm AEST
Online

You might have heard the term minimum viable product (MVP) before. This workshop will go through what an MVP is and how to build one. It will be led by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr.

What you will learn

• Why you shouldn't start with an MVP.
• What an MVP is.
• Participate in an exercise on identifying key features of MVPs in well-known products.
• Reflect on and discuss with other participants what an MVP looks like for your startup idea.
• A few tools that you can use to build your MVP.

Speaker and facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Understanding competition

Wednesday 23 August, 4 - 6pm AEST
Online

This workshop will go through value proposition and building a competitive advantage, how other startups have created their unique value proposition, and the tools to identify your own competitive advantage. It will be led by Sakshi Thakur, Founder of Humanism Global and facilitated by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr.

What you will learn

• How to understand your competition, including competitive forces that are impacting your industry.
• How to refine and quantify the unique value proposition of your startup.
• Explore different case studies of startups in competitive markets.
• How you can understand your competition and build a competitive advantage for your startup.

Speaker: Sakshi Thakur

Facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Building a team and culture

Wednesday 30 August, 4 - 6pm AEST
Online

The right founding team for the startup is critical to its success. In this workshop, we will go through what makes a great team, how to build the right team and key things to keep in mind while building a team culture. It will be led by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr.

What you will learn

• Why a good founding team is critical to startup success and what makes a good team.
• How you can build the right team for your startup from the beginning.
• Different leadership styles and what kind of a leader you are.
• What a good team culture looks like.
• How to build a good team culture for your startup.

Speaker and facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Business models and metrics

Wednesday 6 September, 4 - 6pm AEST
Online

Developing the right business model is essential to ensuring that you have a viable business. This workshop will go through different types of business models, how to develop one for your startup idea and tools to continuously test this model. It will be led by Sakshi Thakur, Founder of Humanism Global and facilitated by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr.

What you will learn

• What a business model is and the different types of business models for startups.
• How to develop a business model for your startup, test and iterate to validate/invalidate assumptions using key metrics and data.
• What pitfalls to avoid when developing and testing business models.

Speaker: Sakshi Thakur

Facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Pitching and storytelling

Wednesday 13 September, 4 - 6pm AEST

Whether you want to hire a team member or raise capital, pitching is an important skill for a migrapreneur. This workshop will go through what a pitch is, why a good pitch is important and how you can create a compelling pitch through storytelling. It will be led by Alan Jones, Partner at M8 Ventures, and facilitated by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr.

What you will learn

• What a pitch is and why it is important.
• The key stakeholders you will pitch to in your startup journey.
• How to develop a great pitch through storytelling.
• The different types of pitches and how to adapt it for different audiences.
• How to deliver a great pitch.

Speaker: Alan Jones

Facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Introduction to fundraising

Wednesday 20 September, 4 - 6pm AEST
Online

In your startup journey, you need capital to get your idea off the ground and turn it into a reality. This workshop will go through the right time to fundraise, including different types of funding opportunities and how you can use them. We will also deep dive into what investors look for in startups. It will be co-led by Usman Iftikhar, CEO of Catalysr and Daniel Veytsblit, Founding Partner at Backbone Partners.

What you will learn

• What you need to do before you start raising capital.
• What are the different types of funding sources that are available to you as an early state founder.
• When the right time is for you to fundraise and what type of funding would suit your startup.
• How venture capital works and what investors are looking for in startups.

Speaker: Daniel Veytsblit

Facilitator: Usman Iftikhar

Register here

Facilitators of the workshops

Usman Iftikhar, Co-Founder and CEO of Catalysr

Usman is the co-founder and CEO of Catalysr, an award-winning startup incubator in Australia, empowering migrant and refugee entrepreneurs (aka "migrapreneurs") to launch their own startups. Since 2016, Catalysr has supported more than 800 migrapreneurs to learn about and launch their own businesses. Usman is also a co-chair of the Programme Design and Delivery working group at the Global Refugee Entrepreneurship Network, run by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE) UK. He is also currently a venture partner at Backbone Partners, an early-stage VC fund for immigrant entrepreneurs in Australia.

Sakshi Thakur, Founder of Humanism Global

Sakshi founded a social enterprise that provides textile education and employment for women who don't have access to safe work in South India. Her passion is in social enterprise, public health, startups and personal development. Sakshi has worked in finance at Ernst & Young, was a Research Assistant at Policy Cures Research and is currently a manager at SENVIC (Social Enterprise Network Victoria).

Alan Jones, Partner at M8 Ventures

Originally a tech reporter, then a producer for Microsoft's Sidewalk, Alan rose through the ranks - from Yahoo's first product hire in Australia to become Product Director, South Asia. After leaving Yahoo, he became co-founder and product head for HomeScreen Entertainment, backed by the Packer family's CPH, and later acquired by Quickflix. Now a startup founder mentor and tech investor, Alan is a partner with M8 Ventures, and the chair of Catalysr.

Daniel Veytsblit, Founding Partner at Backbone Partners

Daniel is a hands-on, active investor who uses the skills and knowledge gained as both a founder and a capital/ strategic advisor to add value through growth strategies and operational improvements. He maintains close relationships with corporates and venture capital investors across the globe, assisting investees with growth and capital raising. Daniel has invested in more than 50 early-stage companies across 20 plus sectors and nine countries. He has 15 years' experience across venture capital, fund management, investment banking and investment consulting. Daniel advises early-stage companies as an advisory board member and consultant while also assisting family offices and corporates on their innovation strategy and venture investments.

Register here for all workshops

Migrant Incubator Award

Attend three or more workshops and you'll be eligible to lodge a pitch entry into the Migrant Incubator Award.

This award recognises an individual or team who has developed a novel idea and is at any stage of development, from inception to market. Your idea may be for a business that sells a physical product, or one that offers a service.

The award is only open to first-generation migrants or refugees. A first-generation migrant, in this context, is an individual born outside of Australia. For group applications at least one first-generation migrant or refugee person must be in your team.

The winning video pitch entry receives:

• $10,000 prize
• six months of mentoring (five one-hour sessions)
• promotion of winning business/project through ACU Co-Lab community ecosystem.
• A sum of $1,000 will be awarded to the best student entry that does not win the first prize.

Key dates

Entries open at 9am AEST on Thursday 17 August 2023

Entries close at 11:59pm AEST on Sunday 24 September 2023.

How to enter

The Migrant Award is a virtual competition and is open to any eligible entrant across Australia who attends at least three Circular Economy Incubator workshops. To participate, you must apply online.

To apply, all applicants must:

• Record and upload a short video pitch of no longer than three minutes outlining the problem you have identified and your innovative solution.
• Enter through our online application form before entries close at 11:59pm AEST on Sunday 24 September 2023.
  
  

The Eligible Entry will be judged by a panel of judges appointed at the sole discretion of ACU and the selection of the winning entry will be based on the highest scoring Eligible Entry based on the following judging criteria, as determined by the judges:

Pitch content - 40 points

1. Clarity by which you have outlined the problem, your solution, and the addressable market size

2. The innovative nature of your solution, and how the award funds would be spent

3. Identify who else in the market is offering a similar service, and outline how your idea is different

4. Demonstrable skills required to build and execute a solution, and noticeable passion for delivering the outcome

Presentation skills - 20 points

5. Storytelling and passion of delivery

6. Professional manner

Audio/video quality - 10 points

7. Quality of the audio and video presentation.

Terms and conditions

Enter here