Grant for Hatch Quarter

Last month, Hatch Quarter won a LaunchVic third-round grant for a project to support migrants and refugees start businesses.

Some $1.4 million was awarded to five specialised organisations who share LaunchVic’s vision to drive innovation by strengthening the startup industry.

Hatch Quarter’s project will include the creation of a freely available multilingual “Startup Playbook” to help migrant entrepreneurs achieve success.

Hatch Quarter’s Meetup group, International Entrepreneurs in Australia, will also be brought to its full potential thanks to LaunchVic’s support. 

Hatch Quarter director Aiman Hamdouna said: “As someone who moved to Australia more than 10 years ago, I feel honoured to be living in a country that recognises migrants and refugees as valuable assets to the startup industry.”

Round three judge, and chair of Multicultural Business Ministerial Council, Rohini Kappadath, believes the Startup Playbook will solve the problems faced by newly-arrived migrants and multicultural communities who lack visibility into relevant networks. 

“It will compress the time to lift-off for so many and wipe away months, and sometimes years, of struggle for our aspiring, ambitious and hard working new migrants.  Bring it on Mo Works and Hatch Quarter,” she said.

After experiencing rapid expansion since its inception in 2016, Hatch Quarter has grown its Docklands co-working space to full capacity, developed a pre-accelerator program, supported the growth of numerous startups and introduced the Hatch Quarter Startup Prize.