Support for women in business

The AgriFutures Rural Women's Award is Australia's leading award empowering and celebrating the inclusive and courageous leadership of women involved in Australia's rural and emerging industries, businesses, and communities, now and into the future. Each State and Territory Winner receives a $15,000 Westpac grant for their project, business or program, access to professional development opportunities and alumni networks. State and Territory winners go on to compete for a further $20,000 grant as the National Winner.

The AgriFutures Rural Women's Acceleration Grant is a program developed to foster growth and development for women who are not quite ready to apply for the Award. Seven Australian women per annum will be granted with a learning and development bursary of $7,000 to enable them to bring their idea, cause or vision to life.

Applications for the 2023 AgriFutures Rural Women's Award and the Acceleration Grant program are open from 7 September until 19 October 2022.

The Boosting Female Founders Initiative provides funding for female founded (majority owned and led by women) start-up businesses to help scale their start-ups into domestic and global markets.

This Australian Government grant program aims to help female entrepreneurs overcome the disadvantages faced in getting access to finance and support to grow their start-ups. The grants are provided on a co-contribution basis. Eligible applicants can apply for a grant between $25,000 and $400,000. Successful applicants will receive expert mentoring and advice.

The Initiative runs for 5 years, so check regularly to see when the next funding round will open.

Read more about the Boosting Female Founders Initiative Program.

The Female Founders program is designed to assist female founders at different stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle.

The program focuses on increasing the participation rates and business skills of female founders in Queensland along with providing support to those who are in the growth phase and need assistance to take their business to the next level.

Applications are currently open for the following programs.

Female Founders Impact Program

The Female Founders Impact Program delivers capability development activities with a focus on confidence, education and skills development. Programs and information available:

• mentoring program – a free service delivered by experienced business advisors
• success stories – read profiles of inspiring Queensland female founders, links to resources and more
• workshops, events and webinars – subscribe to be notified about free events to help build critical business skills and knowledge
• resources, programs and services – designed to support business growth
• connect to a supportive, statewide community of female business owners and entrepreneurs.

To apply or read more about the program, visit Impact Innovation.

Advancing Women in Business and Boards Event Series

The Advancing Women event series is part of the Female Founders Advisory Board program. This Advance Queensland initiative is delivered by the Advisory Board Centre and focuses on increasing the participation rates and business skills of female founders in Queensland. It also provides support to female founders who are in the growth phase and need assistance to achieve their ambitions.

Read more on the Smart Precinct NQ website.

Femeconomy educates consumers, budget owners and business owners on how purchasing decisions can create gender equality. Businesses certified by Femeconomy have at least 30% of women on the Board of Directors or are 50% female owned.

Find out how to become a member and subscribe to Femeconomy’s monthly enews.

The Investing in Queensland Women grant program supports community groups and organisations across Queensland's urban, rural and remote regions with resources to lead projects and events designed to create positive change for women and girls.

To assist in getting your idea up and running, the grant program provides one-off grants of up to $15,000 for projects and events that align with the Queensland Government's strategic priorities and address the unique issues faced by women and girls.

Learn more about Investing in Queensland Women Grants.

ESBIC (Entrepreneurs and Small Business Indigenous Corporation) provides mentoring, coaching, education and personal and professional development programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island (ATSI) people, entrepreneurs, small businesses and corporations.

For more information, contact ESBIC.

This program assists and supports rural, regional and remote (RRR) women entrepreneurs to progress their business and career dreams. The WiRE program promotes and cultivates women entrepreneurship and innovation in rural, regional and remote Australia, and particularly Queensland, through the delivery of an integrated capacity building program.

The WiRE program objective is to promote entrepreneurship through enhancing individual and organisational awareness, participation, skills, entrepreneurial behaviour, competencies and capacity, building support networks, sharing knowledge, growing resilient communities and creating sustainable change in Queensland.

Whether you need to re-vamp your business model to cope with crisis or accelerate an idea to support your community, register now at WiRE Program or email wiresupport@wireprogram.com.

The WOW Digital is a portal to the gender equality movement in Australia and around the world through the global WOW network. Editorials, conversations, recordings and resources are gathered here to challenge the status quo, encourage deep reflection and to be inspired and energised by the stories you choose.