Dream Summit Outcomes

The Dream Summit saw over 80 of Australia’s most talented Indigenous entrepreneurs come together in Sydney for two days of mentoring and personal development.

Head of Dream Summit’s Indigenous Advisory Group and a key force in building the event, Mr Leslie Delaforce said the event was aimed at connecting Indigenous business owners from across the nation.

“It can be a really fragmented space, the idea was to get these business people in one room and create that network and fabric of community,” Mr Delaforce said.

Having his own experience building a business, Mr Delaforce knows the struggles all too well.

“You know when you look around to share stories and collaborate with mob, there wasn’t really anyone there. But we tried it out, and we made mistakes but we made it in the end. And I think now it’s about looking at what we have and thinking, how do we pass this onto other mob?”

Mr Delaforce said the amount of talent that Dream Summit witnessed was incredible, but he commended Jummi Factory particularly.

A ‘DREAM’ 48 HOURS FOR INDIGENOUS ENTREPRENEURS

In just over a month, over 70 emerging Indigenous entrepreneurs will descend on Sydney Startup Hub for 48 hours of big ideas and incredible mentorship.

Minderoo Foundation’s Generation One initiative is proud to announce the inaugural “Dream Summit”. A two-day intensive, skill-building and leadership program, bringing together emerging Indigenous entrepreneurs from across the country.

From 12-13th September, participants will work with a community of experienced mentors to grow their businesses. By day two, the entrepreneurs will be ready to pitch their ideas before a panel of judges, with the opportunity to receive up to $45,000 of seed funding to turn their dream into a reality.

The event will host prominent keynote speakers, mentors and Dream Summit community partners and sponsors, providing participants with unparalleled access to some of the top thinkers in Australia.

Les Delaforce, head of Dream Summit’s Indigenous Advisory Group (IAG), is looking forward to the event.

“Nothing of Dream Summit’s scale has ever been run specifically for Indigenous entrepreneurs in Australia.” Mr Delaforce said.

“The summit will provide participants with the skills and support they need to take their ideas to the next level. The Gen One team and the IAG have been working hard to ensure Dream Summit is an incredible experience for all involved. I’m excited to be apart of it!”

Binary Shift - Key Note

Les Delaforce is a Gumbaynggirr man and co-founder of DreamSpark, and Dreamblocks which focusses on purpose over profit.

Having worked in a variety of senior roles in Government, in 2014 Les was awarded the Australian Institute of Management 30 Under 30 that recognises Australia’s top 30 managers.

Les has a passion for using tech as a mechanism to drive change and improve outcomes for a better work environment and community. In 2017 in recognition of this work Les was awarded Inside Small Business – Top 50 Business Leaders and recognised in the Westpac 200 Businesses of Tomorrow.

Leslie Delaforce is using technology to increase diversity in the workforce

Les, as he's known, is co-founder and director of HR tech company Covocate, which helped Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill company increase the size of its Indigenous workforce by focusing on the values held by people it wants to employ rather than focusing solely on traditional factors such as qualifications.

"They're the only big four miner that doesn't have quotas around Indigenous targets, yet they've increased their Indigenous representation using Covocate," Les says. "It's all about having the right processes and structures in place to allow results like that to happen. And we're pretty proud."

Les credits the success of Covocate to taking part in the MURRA program for Indigenous leaders at Melbourne Business School's Asia Pacific Social Impact Centre. He completed the program in April last year, when he left the West Australian public service after 10 years in various roles as an expert on Indigenous affairs.

Les co-founded Covocate while still a public servant but, once accepted into the MURRA program, made the leap to devote himself to the business full-time.