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Amona
Founder of Nativ Tongue
Graduate of Cultov8 Business Builder and pre-accelerator program

Amona participated in the first cohort for Cultov8 Pre-accelerator Program in 2018. She has more than seven years’ experience in refugee settlement and community development.

 

Her passion for antiracism; intersectional feminism; and social justice were the inspiration behind her recently founded startup ‘Nativ Tongue’. Through Nativ Tongue, former refugees and asylum seekers are given the opportunity to deliver language-learning and tutoring service to people. Amona first heard of Cultov8 Program through a flyer shared with her by a co-worker.

Prior to attending Cultov8 weekend hackathon, Amona had no startup idea. However, she wanted to try something new and challenging. In fact, one of the reasons for signing up was to experience her first-ever hackathon. The concept of hackathon was totally new to Amona.

During the Program, Amona was exposed to new concepts in entrepreneurship and innovation, which shaped her mindset on how to develop her idea. She was also impressed by the highly diverse group of mentors who supported participants of the Program. The consistent engagement and accountability inherent in the weekly meetup sessions provided Amona the needed support to get her started on her entrepreneurial journey. Together with the mentoring component, the peer-to-peer learnings helped shape and polished the idea discovered by Amona through Cultov8.

“Winning the ‘Best Pitch’ award alongside another participant was not only validating but encouraging to a self-doubter like myself”.

Amona continues to leverage on things learnt through Cultov8 to challenge herself, as she attempts to master pivoting and other idea-development concepts. The Program has also taught her to how to handle feedback and constructive criticism from relevant stakeholders.

“Cultov8 has guided me through my first ever hackathon, pre-accelerator program and connected me with a mentor to support and enrich my idea. I would have never thought I could win best startup pitch but that reflects the resources and the learning experiences Cultov8 had provided me with.”

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