A new Australian Multicultural Foundation scholarship aims to support personal or business projects by Australian women of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
The annual Carla Zampatti Scholarship for Young Women will pledge $10,000 towards ventures, projects, or activities in education, business, sports, and social enterprise, among other categories.
It celebrates the legacy of acclaimed Australian fashion designer and advocate for multiculturalism, Carla Zampatti, who died in April last year.
“This scholarship will support the commencement of a personal or business project – whether it be education, technology, arts or business et cetera,” said Dr. Hass Dellal AO, Executive Director Australian Multicultural Foundation.
“This isn’t exclusive to fashion, and Carla wasn’t exclusive to fashion. She was a trailblazer in business. Through this Scholarship, we want to see more young women from diverse cultures overcome barriers and challenges to achieve their aspirations and, in the process, strengthen the future prosperity of multicultural Australia.”
Eligible multicultural applicants must be a woman (including female-identifying persons) between 18 and 29 years old and must be a citizen or permanent resident of Australia.
Carla’s son, Alexander Schuman, CEO of Carla Zampatti Pty Limited, noted that this scholarship would address key financing issues for women in business.
“There’s been a dramatic change over the last 50 years to advance female business ventures, but before 1971, women couldn’t access bank loans. This was the case for my mother in the 60s when she wanted to start her business,” Mr. Schuman said. “Luckily, a cousin of hers was able to help her out. Yet, multicultural women still have barriers in business endeavours today. My mother would want us to keep breaking them down in her name.”
Applications close on 6 May 2022 and the winner will be announced on 31 May 2022.
To learn more about the Australian Multicultural Foundation Carla Zampatti Scholarship for Young Women, click here.
READ ALSO: New incubator program to help Australian migrant-led startups
