Anyone Can - The Country's First Start-Up Community Program 100% By and For Bla(c)k Women and Women of Colour*

Date: Thursday 23 June 2022
Time: 4:30PM to 8:15PM
Location: Microsoft Reactor - Level 10/11 York St, Sydney NSW 2000

Following this year’s hugely successful Anyone Can Launch Event attended by over 100 people, The Creative Co-Operative is delighted to be partnering with Tech Central Sydney and hosted by Microsoft for Startups (with more sponsors to be announced soon) to officially launch the second cohort of the Anyone Can program on the evening of 23 June 2022 in Sydney’s CBD. Anyone Can is a program creating a psychologically-safe space for our communities to access 101 startup education and be set up for success to access and advance in the startup ecosystem.

If you are a Bla(c)k Woman and/or Woman of Colour (Blak/Black/Woman of Colour including trans and non-binary people) and the ticket rates are inaccessible for you, please register for our waiting list to receive a Pay-It-Forward ticket.

All Allies and Co-Conspirators who can't make the event in-person are strongly encouraged to purchase a Pay-It-Forward ticket. Similarly, if members of the Blak/BIWOC* community cannot attend the event in person, please redistribute your resources so all members of the community can attend.

Speakers

🚀 Vanessa Lee-Ah Mat - Founding Chair of Walking Between World (an NFT initiative with Indigenous artists), Co-Founder of the Cultural Embassy, Founder and Director of Black Lorikeet Cultural Brokering and Chair of RUOK? First Peoples Advisory board. 2005 Australian Government Award recipient of Outstanding Citizen in the Torres Strait for leadership in environmental collective impact and 2021 recipient of Griffith University First People’s, Health Alumnus Award for leadership creating social change for Indigenous people globally.

🚀 Jeanette Cheah - CEO & Founder, HEX (EdTech), 2021 Recipient of the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians Award

🚀 Annie Parker - Executive Director, Tech Central

🚀 Carey Taylor - COO and Co-Founder @Blakthumb who's mission is to build resilient communities through the power of decentralised production.

Schedule

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM - Live Pitch Watch Party - watch the first ever Cohort of Anyone Can deliver their pitches before our judges (announced soon) - drinks will be available

5:30 PM – 6:00 PM – Community Building over Drinks & Nibbles

6:00 PM – 6.15 PM - Acknowledgement of Country

6.15 PM - 6.35 PM - Welcome by The CCO (including Program Overview for Cohort 2)

6.35PM - 7.35 PM - Panel Begins & Audience Q&A

7.35 PM - 8:15 - Community Building over Drinks & Nibbles

Tickets

Ticket proceeds will be pooled and distributed to the founder who wins the Pitch Competition during our startup community program, Anyone Can Cohort 2 (to start in July), to help with the startup costs of their new venture.
Pay It Forward tickets available for purchase by Allies and Co-Conspirators for all tiers.

Prices

Early Bird or Pay It Forward $40
Standard Ticket or Pay It Forward $45
At The Door $50

What to expect

Start the night off by meeting the incredible and supportive Bla(c)k Women and Women of Colour (BIWOC)* in the startup community as well as Allies and Co-Conspirators, over drinks and nibbles before we hear from our speakers.

Live Pitch Watch Party

We're going to watch as the Anyone Can Cohort 1 finishes with a bang, as one of the founders will be pitching for $10,000, in front of judges - putting into practice the skills they've developed through the program.

Updates

We will share more about our 8 week program, which kicks off 20 July. How to apply, what and who to expect, what happens next.

Panel Discussion

Panel discussion with our trailblazing speakers: Our ground-breaking research into the state of the ecosystem for BIWOC in Australia identified that of >$10B invested in Aussie startups last year, only 0.03% went to early stage BIWOC founders. Since then, the ecosystem has been responding. Since then, the first ever 100% by and for Bla(c)k Women and WoC startup cohort has wrapped up. Now, what?

We’ll finish up the night with more community connection through Q&A + more drinks and nibbles. Prizes will be given out throughout the night, although everyone’s a winner because your admission comes with a complimentary gift bag.**

Accessibility Info

The venue is step-free and wheelchair accessible.
There are gender neutral accessible bathrooms on each floor.
Bindi maps available.

If you need any support or face any issues in booking tickets, please send us an email mayacares@thecco.com.au

This project is supported by the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources through the Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship program.

*(Blak/Black/Indigenous/WomenOfColour[including trans and non-binary people])
**Limited quantities available