Investor Gary Zamel to head UNSW Founders Program

After starting and scaling up nearly a dozen companies, Gary Zamel says it’s time to give back.

Gary Zamel with then-MP Joe Hockey. Picture: TIM PASCOE

Veteran entrepreneur and investor Gary Zamel has become the latest philanthropic supporter of the UNSW Founders Program and will become its new entrepreneur-in-residence, taking over from Trevor Folsom and returning home to UNSW after nearly decades.

Mr Zamel has founded and grown several technology companies including MST Global, CommChain, New Medtek Devices and Wikistrat, and said he was looking forward to getting ‘back on the tools’ and working directly with entrepreneurs.

“When Peter Farrell and I started the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship over 16 years ago I was always hopeful that it would evolve into exactly what we see today,” Mr Zamel said in an interview.

“The Founders Program, the Peter Farrell Cup and the Michael Crouch Innovation Centre, just to name a few of the opportunities UNSW offers, provide so much support for new entrepreneurs. The Centre has successfully influenced more students and academics to think creatively and we can collectively take this to the next level over the coming decade.

“I’m extremely excited to re-join the team to help this initiative and endeavour to challenge future generations to fulfil their potential.”

David Burt, UNSW’s Director of Entrepreneurship, said the Founders Program is designed to help participants at the earliest stage, sometimes before they’ve even started a company.

UNSW Director of Entrepreneurship David Burt. Source: Supplied.

The program is free for UNSW students, researchers and alumni and has supported over 600 start-ups to date, including education technology start-up, Forage, which has raised $48m since participating in the program and Contactile, a robotics start-up which recently announced a seed round led by Silicon Valley’s True Ventures.

“It‘s so critical that the assistance is philanthropic in nature, because often there’s no company to take equity in, and these people are so early in the journey that they can’t pay for good advice,” Mr Burt said. “It’s super important for Australia that we nurture and support early-stage entrepreneurs, and we need experienced people like Gary to give back with their time and resources, and his support here will be crucial for us.”

UNSW offers a formal start-up accelerator program, and accelerator programs have come under fire in recent months for being no longer relevant or needed in a more mature ecosystem. Accelerators support early-stage companies through education, mentorship, and financing, often in exchange for a chunk of the company or upfront fees.

“They’re still relevant, as long as they’re good,” Mr Burt said. “If you think about UNSW, we reach into every board room, every C-Suite, there is someone there who was a graduate of UNSW. So with our accelerator program it’s less about the content, and more about introducing you to people like Gary who you wouldn’t be able to find yourself.”