Case Study: Deadly Innovation

Location: Queensland, Australia

Investment type: Public and philanthropic

The Advance Queensland Deadly Innovation Strategy seeks to deliver jobs and economic wealth for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, by creating pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and innovators to develop and grow.

The strategy was designed by Queensland's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Business and Innovation Reference Group in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, Innovation and Sport and other key stakeholders.

The Deadly Deals initiative sits within the Deadly Innovation Strategy, providing grants to support Indigenous businesses and innovators to undertake the next step in the development of a product, process or service to market.

Sobah Beverages, an Australian company specialising in locally brewed, non-alcoholic craft beer infused with bush tucker ingredients, were the first recipient of a Deadly Deals grant in 2019. This purpose-led business, founded to raise positive awareness and promote First Nations' culture, arts, language, and history saw significant growth supported by the funding. It contributed to the purchase of a pasteuriser to expand production, increase product shelf-life and enable wider distribution of their products to national and international markets.

Sobah are looking to contract pasteurisation services to other small beverage producers to not only grow their revenue but also assist the growth of other small beverage businesses.

When we spoke with Duncan Kerslake, Program Manager at Deadly Innovation, he emphasised how important their team's approach is to working with businesses, focusing on building relationships and trust as the first step before anything else occurs.

“We have so many good businesses, and the thing for me is that finance gap.

That to me is one of the biggest gaps in market for Indigenous businesses - when they want to scale.

For finance up to $250k to buy that piece of equipment or get that help to move it forward. That bit of funding which isn’t millions of dollars but will actually help them get on their way.”

— Duncan Kerslake Deadly Innovation - Program Manager I Interview 2022 

https://www.dtis.qld.gov.au/innovation/deadly-innovation

This case study is an extract from Regenerating Investment in Food and Farming: A Roadmap.