CDU researcher heads to the US to support immigrant micro-businesses in the Territory

Charles Darwin University (CDU) Senior Research Fellow Dr Kate Golebiowska has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to assess how business acceleration can improve immigrant women’s inclusion with the operation of micro-enterprises.

The Fulbright Coral Sea Scholarship supports three to four months of study in the United States, where Dr Golebiowska from CDU’s Northern Institute, will immerse herself in a business accelerator program at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School in Atlanta.

As a part of the program, Dr Golebiowska will learn everything from business administration to the management practices of small migrant-owned businesses, with skills she hopes to apply back to the Territory.

Dr Kate Golebiowska said the program empowers new and aspiring micro-business entrepreneurs, most of whom are women of minority and immigrant backgrounds with business knowledge, skills and networks.

"This program provides a model that I hope to learn from and use these insights to create a framework for establishing a similar initiative for immigrant women micro-entrepreneurs in the NT,” Dr Golebiowska said.

Dr Golebiowska plans to contribute to conversations in Australia about how university-led partnerships can promote immigrant women's empowerment through micro-enterprise and positively impact communities.

“This program looks at everything from administration to management of small migrant-owned businesses, and I hope to return to the NT with the knowledge to help communities here,” she said.

“I am honoured and thrilled to be receiving this scholarship and I hope to inspire other first-generation migrants in Australia.”

The Australian and US governments support the Fulbright scholarships through the non-profit Australian-American Fulbright Commission that administers the program.

Dr Golebiowska hopes to travel to the United States in 2023.

Find out about previous Fulbright scholarship recipients and how to apply.