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A UWA-based social enterprise delivering Indigenous tutoring services has placed equal second in EY's nationwide Survive the Panel competition.

IndGenius , a project created by student group Enactus UWA , was awarded $4000 seed capital by a panel of EY judges after UWA Finance and Science student Eli Hurley pitched the project.

IndGenius offers a personalised, structured tutoring program to Indigenous high school and university students. The program aims to alleviate Indigenous educational disadvantage by helping increase academic results, retention rates and finally graduation rates.

"Broadly speaking, I think everyone's aware of the huge need within the community of helping bridge the education gap - Australia's come a long way here, but there's still a long way to go," Eli said.

"There are already many existing tutoring programs in place throughout local high schools and colleges. However by bringing the positive power of business and entrepreneurship (one of Enactus' guiding principles) to the fore, we were able to streamline a completely revolutionised program that offers better value for money and improved outcomes for all stakeholders involved."

While it was tough to put the ten-minute pitch together, Eli says that surviving the panel made the experience very worthwhile.

"The nerves in the lead up to the event were almost overwhelming, especially since I've never done public speaking on this scale (one of the judges was Rob McLeod, Managing Partner and CEO of EY Oceania). So I was quite surprised that nervousness actually wasn't an issue on the night. It turns out plenty of practise and knowing your presentation backwards DOES make a difference!

"The feedback from the judges will be extremely helpful. Unsurprisingly, they got a quick grasp of what we're setting out to achieve and offered great feedback at the end of the competition."

As IndGenius develops, the Enactus UWA team aim to consolidate their pilot program with St Catherine's College, build electronic infrastructure and strengthen connections with various partners.

IndGenius's success, says Eli, is due to the hard work and dedication of a large group of people, including the Enactus UWA team; driving force behind the project, UWA student James McCarthy-Price; and the tutors and students.

"I think the tutors and students are the unsung heroes here - both groups work really hard to meet each other halfway and our tutors are the ones on the ground delivering this vision, day in, day out," Eli said.

The Survive the Panel final was held on 30 September at EY's Sydney offices.

Media references

Karen Della Torre (UWA Business School)                                   (+61 8) 6488 8538
Verity Chia (UWA Business School)                                            (+61 8) 6488 1346