Bilateral partnership to inspire entrepreneurship among Indigenous youth in Australia and India

A unique Australian-Indian bilateral partnership between youth-focussed organisations Young Change Agents and AVENUES Meghalaya will help integrate entrepreneurial knowledge education from Australia into India and support knowledge exchange between both countries.

Backed by the Australia India Business Council, the Australia India Youth Dialogue, and the governments of India and Australia, the Australian-India bilateral partnership launch event on Tuesday featured a roundtable discussion about how early access to the tools, mindsets and skills of entrepreneurship can make a significant difference to Indigenous youth.

AVENUES Meghalaya works with thousands of First Nations youth across north-east India while Young Change Agents has partnered with more than 135,000 youth across Australia, including a significant number of First Nations youth, to change their lives and communities. 

Young Change Agents undertook three years of deep codesign alongside Australian First Nations youth and through many discussions with AVENUES found some cultural similarities with First Nations youth in Meghalaya.

It found First Nations youth are seeking culturally-proud, hands-on education that is shaped with them and delivered by their communities to spark their entrepreneurial thinking. 

“Early, equitable access to innovative and hands-on education is critical,” said Margaret O’Brien, CEO of Young Change Agents.

“Indigenous youth are very capable of being self-directed and voicing their needs for change. We are excited to have been invited to partner with AVENUES and exchange knowledge with teachers and communities. The amplifier effect is powerful.” 

The program developed through the partnership will address the challenges faced by First Nations youth including a lack of access to local role models, resources and culturally nuanced learning. 

“It not only takes a village to build a young person’s potential, sometimes they have to find inspiration outside their village and look globally. This is an opportunity to help unearth that potential,” O’Brien said.

Talking about its effect on the youth in India, Mark Latiflang Stone, founder and CEO, AVENUES Meghalaya said, “this event is a historic moment in the north-east India region’s youth development narrative. It marks the first knowledge-exchange intervention for entrepreneurship education for Indigenous youth between our nations”. 

He further added that the partnership will “help us to spark entrepreneurial mindsets in our Indigenous youth, in ways where youth build their confidence and realise what is truly possible”.