May 19, 2022
Barayamal – a charitable association encouraging Indigenous entrepreneurship – has launched a unique fundraising program.
The registered charity was set up in 2016 by NSW man Dean Foley.
Since then it has run mentoring and business accelerator programs for First Nations people.
He said these would-be entrepreneurs often had trouble raising capital as banks were unwilling to lend money to invest in Indigenous communities.
Dean felt powerless as he watched other First Nations people around him struggle to find support.
“Funding is scarce. People feel frustrated when they have an idea that could help the community but can’t get funding to implement it,” he said.
“Without access to capital, these people would never be able to achieve their full potential.
“There’s something strange about Australia. We spend billions on commercial for-profit lotteries, and yet many communities could really use that money.
“I recently heard a great idea from a friend – what if we make a lottery called the First Nations Lottery?”
Dean has been inspired by the well-known Mater and Endeavour lotteries which support positive community activities.
“Why don’t we create a national lottery where all the money goes to First Nations community development?” he said.
Dean has started small, with a $10,000 first prize raffle and $5 tickets sold across four States: Queensland, NSW, the Northern Territory and Tasmania.
Barayamal plans to use the money raised through this first raffle to bankroll its community development programs.
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Dean Foley is a Kamilaroi man from Gunnedah.
After completing Year 12, he went to university and also served five years in the RAAF.
In 2019, he won the CSIRO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander STEM Professional Early Career Award and was featured on Kochie’s Business Builders
- External link: First Nations Raffle
