The Fearless Innovator Grant Program aims to empower women-led businesses by providing vital support to women entrepreneurs in South Australia. Designed to give female founders the confidence and resources to take calculated risks, the two-year pilot scheme is backed by Women In Innovation (WINN), the Fearless Females Network, and the South Australian Government.
Rebecca Fraser, a partner at Tilbrook Rasheed and an advocate of the programme, believes this initiative can inspire women to pursue growth without hesitation. “In sometimes taking the more cautious, slow and steady approach, opportunities might pass women by,” she explained. “If they have the confidence, advice and networks around them to keep pushing hard, to know what risks to take, to build knowledge and have good plans in place, it will quickly lead to more successful female-led businesses.”
Fraser, who regularly works with business founders, knows that financial literacy is key to success. Yet she has observed that many women underestimate their financial skills, adding that showing this vulnerability can also be positive. She said, “It enables you to have detailed practical conversations [about finance] that you might otherwise quickly move past.”
In Australia, just two per cent of early-stage investment goes to female founders, a statistic the Fearless Innovator Grant Program is determined to address. Kelly Jamieson, co-chair of the Fearless Females Network and co-founder of Edible Blooms, knows the struggle firsthand.
“For female founders it can be really hard to fit into that,” said Jamieson, whose business was self-funded. “A lot of programs are focused on space, defence, tech and the creative sector, but there are female founders who have interesting businesses who don’t fit into those segments,” said Jamieson.
Unlike many grants that focus on specific industries such as technology, space, or creative sectors, the Fearless Innovator Grant is industry-agnostic. Female founders can apply for funding as long as their businesses have a minimum viable product and are scalable.
Successful applicants are free to use the funding for various needs, whether that is attending a trade show, hiring consultants, or other growth strategies. “We’re saying, your business needs will be different to someone else’s. They can do whatever they want as long as we believe it will help the business grow,” Jamieson explained.
The grant programme has a funding pool of $120,000, including a $20,000 contribution from Westpac. Earlier this year, Westpac expanded its Women In Business fund, offering unsecured loans of up to $50,000 for startups and up to $5 million for scaleups.
Alongside the grant, women founders are also being encouraged to seek good financial and legal advice early. Vivienne Pitman, another partner at Tilbrook Rasheed, stressed the importance of setting up proper financial systems from the start.
“With startups, they don’t necessarily have a lot of capital to afford good advice, so the tendency is to do it yourself,” she said. “Often you can work it out and maybe get it 80 percent right, but that bit that isn’t quite right can be very costly and expensive down the track.”
Pitman has witnessed the impact of poor financial planning, with some businesses left in weaker positions due to poorly structured corporate setups. She cited B2B fashion wholesaler Whola, founded by digital disruptor Alice Fitch, as an example of a company that benefitted from early professional advice.
Beyond funding, the Fearless Innovator Grant aims to create a thriving network of female entrepreneurs who can inspire future generations.
“Just imagine if we have an alumni of incredibly successful South Australian, female-led businesses that are growing here, interstate and overseas, and employing other women in their business,” Jamieson said. “Those other women will be the next inspired group to come through … and that growth [in female-led businesses] will be self-sustaining.”
Applications for the Fearless Innovator Grant Program are open until midnight on 8 June 2025.
