Palmerston Start-up Wins $35,000 in Grants

A PALMERSTON start-up has won $35,000 in grants to launch a digital wallet designed to provide more agency for Indigenous Australians through easy access to their identification and personal documents.

HoldAccess founder and chief executive Jason Davis, who is Indigenous, said the ‘DijiWallet’ was his solution to what he saw as a problem that was really restrictive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

“For First Nations people of Australia, it can be quite difficult to create economic opportunities when all of your information is held by third parties on your behalf, and access to it creates a further dependency on the welfare system,” he said.

“Many Indigenous people lack access to identification and

personal documents in order to manage self-worth from verified information,” says Jason.

Mr Davis received $35,000 from nbn’s Grants Program for the project, which will give First Nations people access to documents they need for employment, essential services and with Native Title claims.

“We believe HoldAccess will help increase the social fabric for regional and remote economies with a solution to a much-needed problem of digital accessibility,” Mr Davis said.