Barayamal

Barayamal is a 100% First Nations-owned and run charity based in Gunnedah, NSW, established in 2016, that grows Indigenous entrepreneurs through accelerators, mentoring, research, jobs and community-led programs. It also operates a national First Nations job board, an eMentoring platform and a grants directory. Its flagship First Nations Pre-Accelerator is a 12-week NSW program, delivered with support from the NSW Government's Diversity Pre-Accelerator Program, combining workshops, mentoring and peer yarning, followed by 12 months of aftercare. Participants can apply for Start & Grow micro-grants of up to $2,500 per year. Barayamal ran Australia's first Indigenous Startup Weekend and its original Barayamal Accelerator, which launched with five startups in its first cohort and partnered with IBM in 2021. Cohort 1 applications for the Pre-Accelerator closed in September 2026, with expressions of interest open for future cohorts. The Pre-Accelerator targets Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander founders, co-founders or founding-team members who live in NSW or run an NSW-based business, are at ideation, pre-revenue or early-revenue stage, and are building an innovation-intensive product, service or business model. Offers follow eligibility checks, independent assessment and moderation. Barayamal is a charity and takes no equity, so the closest figure to a check size is the Start & Grow micro-grant of up to $2,500 per participant per year, from a $150,000 annual pool. Final dates for the current Pre-Accelerator cohort still need written approval from Investment NSW. I found no fraud or scam reports about Barayamal.