Sydney MSP Yirigaa, Aruba partner to boost Indigenous peoples’ digital skills

Sydney-based First Australian cybersecurity and IT services provider Yirigaa has been tapped by HPE Aruba as a partner to train and certify Indigenous engineers in supported scholarship opportunities for First Nations People.

The goal is to promote educational programs, scholarships, traineeships, upskilling, and reskilling to attract Indigenous candidates to close the digital technology skills and unemployment gap for First Nations People.

Yirigaa and Aruba are together delivering programs to provide scholarships and traineeships to attract indigenous people to stable, well-paid technology careers through scholarships and traineeships, a statement from Yirigaa read.

The goals of the programs are up-skilling and re-skilling Indigenous people already in the industry, helping existing and new Indigenous IT companies by increasing the qualified talent pool, and providing IT partners with a pipeline of certified technical expertise.

“This is a fabulous outcome and I wish to thank the architects involved in formalising this brilliant relationship: Jeff Whitton, Yirigaa founding managing director; Pat Devlin, Director Aruba South Pacific (ANZ); and Mark Thornton, Aruba Executive, NSW Government business,” said Yirigaa chief executive Yawun Mundine.

“These gentlemen have a very real passion for indigenous digital inclusion that basically guarantees the success for the partnership achieving life-changing outcomes for Aboriginal people wanting to enter, reskill or upskill in the technology and innovation sector.”

Devlin added, “HPE Aruba is excited to align with Yirigaa on delivering tangible outcomes in closing the digital gap and providing life-changing opportunities in our industry for Indigenous Australians.” 

“Yirigaa spearheads similar training programs, and our commitment is to position Yirigaa as a key training and certification partner for our existing and emerging client base. There’s a high demand for skilled workers in our market and we are very pleased to be able to work closely with Yirigaa to develop new talent.” 

In addition to technical training, Yirigaa said it has seen much demand for its Indigenous cultural awareness and certification program for businesses that operate in Australia.

Speaking about the announcement, Macquarie University AI-enabled processes research centre Professor Amin Beheshti said, “The partnership with Yirigaa to provide First Nations People with PhD scholarships and the associated research program, represents a key milestone in the University’s journey towards achieving indigenous diversity targets within the student cohort. Macquarie University is thrilled to support and partner with Yirigaa on this important initiative.”