Leadership built on 65,000 years of capital and risk management
A world-class leadership program built around the skills that move people into senior and executive roles, grounded in the longest continuous record of capital and risk management on earth.
The Mawal Leadership Program meets you wherever you are on your leadership journey, with two pathways available:
12-month guided scholarship - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander professionals who are building careers across corporate and entrepreneurial environments, and ready to step toward senior leadership and decision-making roles, can apply for a scholarship funded by one of our program partners.
Self-paced - Open to Indigenous and non-Indigenous professionals alike. Our cultural framework is designed to help Indigenous leaders feel unapologetically Indigenous in commercially accountable roles, grounding ambition in identity rather than asking to trade one for the other. For non-Indigenous participants, cultural content builds curiosity and perspective on Indigenous leadership in Australia alongside the full commercial curriculum.
You’ll gain:
Commercial skills that move careers
The language of capital and risk, grounded in 65,000 years of documented Indigenous economic history
A personal AI coach
Our Raise the Ceiling podcast
A community of Mawal leaders with exclusive resources, learning events and exposure opportunities.
Underpinning it all is a proprietary competency framework of more than 140 competencies across eleven themes.
Our ambition is bold: to help develop Australia's first Indigenous ASX-100 CEO, and to normalise Indigenous leadership in roles with real commercial accountability.
Choosing your pathway
Both pathways share the same content, platform, competency framework and AI coaching.
Scholarship pathway
The guided pathway is a 12-month cohort experience for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander professionals who are either currently employed (full or part time) or are entrepreneurs (or budding entrepreneurs), and who have career aims for senior leadership, commercial roles, and decision-making.
The program is delivered online, ensuring geography is never a barrier to development.
The time commitment is around 1-2 hours online per week, plus 1–5 hours of mentoring over six months in the third phase.
Scholarships are available by:
Applying for a partner-funded scholarship - These are from companies who fund scholarships because they believe in the Mawal mission. They are awarded through a competitive, merit-based national process. If awarded, you won't pay fees, but you'll meet agreed participation and progress guidelines. They are limited and not guaranteed.
Your employer funding your place as part of your development plan - Organisations serious about building and retaining Indigenous leadership, sponsoring an employee into the guided cohort is a direct, high-impact investment in a high-potential team member, and a visible commitment to their progression.
If you apply for a partner-funded scholarship but aren't awarded one, you can opt to join as a full-fee participant in the self-paced pathway.
The full program offering is detailed here.
Apply here for the program - please note there is only one cohort per year.
Fly on your own via self-paced
The same world-class program, delivered online at your own pace. You can start at any time as an individual or enrol your whole team, and work through your suite of Mawal resources in your own time and order.
All learning modules, plus Raise the Ceiling podcast episodes and program resources.
24 months of online access from enrolment.
12 months of personalised AI coaching, which unlocks once you complete the modules (with an option to continue after 12 months).
Exclusive program resources plus events, learning opportunities and presentations when they're running.
It’s open to Indigenous and non-Indigenous professionals alike:
Our cultural framework helps Indigenous leaders feel unapologetically Indigenous in commercially accountable roles, grounding ambition in identity rather than asking them to trade one for the other.
For non-Indigenous participants, the cultural content builds curiosity and perspective on Indigenous leadership in Australia alongside the full commercial curriculum.
The full program offering is detailed here.
Enrol here today.
What Mawal leaders are saying
Feedback from the 2026 Mawal Scholars cohort, working through the same leadership program: Net Promoter Score: +66
What they're loving
Quality and diversity of learning content.
Podcast format.
Cultural authenticity and Indigenous-led design.
Flexible, self-paced learning.
The community feeling among participants.
“My biggest learning so far is that we have always belonged in spaces where we may have once felt uncomfortable, whether that's leadership, finance, innovation, entrepreneurship or decision-making roles.”
- Mawal Scholar
“By undertaking the program I now realise that I am not alone and that there are others out there like me who wish to be advocates for their community and at the same time are driving to be sophisticated and sharp commercial operators.”
- Mawal Scholar
“Mawal has brought about a deeper level of thinking and connecting me to ancient thinking and deadly practices. A connection I could not have achieved on my own.”
– Mawal Scholar
Apply now for the Leadership Program or to become a Mentor or Career Sponsor
Senior Academic Advisors
Our Academic Advisors keep Mawal’s leadership program firmly grounded in research and will be leading the ongoing analysis and evaluation of both individual participant outcomes and the program’s overall impact.
Associate Professor
Suzanne Chan-Serafin
Suzanne Chan-Serafin is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at UNSW Business School, specialising in workplace inclusion and social justice. Her research examines how organisations can create diverse, inclusive, moral, and safe environments where all employees, particularly those from underrepresented or vulnerable groups, can thrive. Her research is published in leading journals such as Human Resource Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Organization Science and has been featured in media outlets including the ABC and Australian Financial Review. As a former Chair of the UNSW Business School Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and Deputy Head of School (Education), Suzanne combines scholarly insight into people and organisational dynamics with leadership experience to help organisations drive meaningful, equitable change.
Professor
Dr Markus Höllerer
Dr Markus Höllerer is a Professor of Organization and Management at UNSW Business School, as well as a senior research fellow at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria) and a professorial research fellow at IAE Business School (Argentina). He has been a visiting scholar at institutions such as Stanford University, Harvard University, and Copenhagen Business School, among others. His research is interested in issues such as novel forms of organisation and governance, innovative organisational design, collective action in crisis situations, and shifting institutional arrangements and social change more broadly and his academic work has been published in many of the globally leading scholarly outlets in the field of management research.
Markus has served in various academic leadership roles and is currently Deputy Head of School (Research) at UNSW Business School and Editor-in-Chief of Organization Theory.
Backed by leading organisations
The program is backed by leading companies including BHP, Coles, Origin, Soul Patts, Ampol, Jarden, University of Sydney, and Indigenous Capital Limited.
