'It's been a long journey': Indigenous entrepreneur takes out top award
Mikaela Jade only discovered her Aboriginal heritage when she was 29 years old.
"It's been a long journey for myself and my siblings and my mother and my mother's family to reclaim our cultural heritage," says Jade. "I actually come from a long line of strong women I have found out."
Indigenous Cabrogal woman Mikaela Jade, founder of digital storytelling app Indigital.
Photo: Karleen MinneyThe Cabrogal woman from Sydney has drawn on her heritage to launch Indigital, a technology business that uses innovative ways to tell Indigenous stories, including an augmented reality app that brings indigenous pictures and places to life.
On Tuesday, Jade won the Veuve Clicquot New Generation Award for 2018 for female entrepreneurs.
The award recognises female entrepreneurs under the age of 40 and is based on entrepreneurship, innovation and corporate social responsibility.
Jade beat finalists Hayley Bonham, co-founder of luxury creative space La Porte Group, Emma Henderson and Victoria Beattie, co-founders of lifestyle brand The Beach People and Jane Lu, co-founder of online fashion retailer Showpo, to take out the top prize.
"I saw augmented reality for the first time in 2012 and I spent five minutes with the technology and realised that this had massive opportunity to change the narrative for indigenous cultures around the world so our stories are told at the right time, at the right place, by the right person," says Jade.
"This technology allows us to bring to life to cultural places, cultural artworks and cultural objects. Our elders get to share their story with a younger generation, which right now a lot of them are struggling to connect with. I see technology as building a bridge between generations in our communities and also between our communities and all other communities."
Jade says her first app took two years to develop because her vision was to enable it to operate in areas without internet connection, given the remote nature of many indigenous communities.
"A lot of our cultural storytelling happens in areas without any NBN," she says.
"I wanted to be able to show the community that they can participate in this world as well and that they can drive development."
Mikaela Jade of Indesign, Thomas Bouleuc of Veuve Clicqucot and actress Freida Pinto at the Next Generation Awards.
She says the business was funded with "blood, sweat and tears" ahead of Indigital's launch in June 2017.
"I was able to secure an Indigenous Advancement Grant from the government but I had to match that with a business loan for $75,000," Jade says. "We did a Kickstarter as well and I also work a full-time job to keep us moving."
Jade has built the business by herself and uses a contract team of developers in Bangalore to help create the app.
Revenue at this early stage is still under $100,000. The app is free but Jade has several revenue streams, including selling cards, augmented reality t-shirts and working to provide content for various businesses.
"My vision this year is to work with 60 Indigenous women to upskill them so they can work in this field as well," she says.
Jade says winning the New Generation Award is very significant for her.
"It means for me that Indigenous people have a place in cutting-edge technology and our ideas are as valid as everyone elses and we should definitely get out there," she says.
"One thing I'm really passionate about is making sure Indigenous women have technology role models because I didn't have that many people to look up to."
Actress Frieda Pinto was in Sydney to present the Veuve Clicquot New Generation award. She says she drew inspiration from Madame Clicquot, the creator of Veuve Clicquot, who was widowed at 27 and took over her husband's business revolutionising champagne making.
"The best part is she did all of this when women could not even have their own bank account, forget about running their own business," Pinto says.
Jade wins a trip to France to visit Veuve Clicquot's headquarters and her name will be given to a row of Veuve Clicquot vines.
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