About Us
Our Founding Story
Illume Foundation was started in 2021 by Ms Laxmi Pun who had first-hand experience of the challenges of navigating a career esp as an international student.
A decade later and with a wealth of experience and network in the startup and venture capital world, she realised that access to talent was the biggest challenge for early-stage startups.
So she built this social enterprise to connect talent with startups, provide entrepreneurial skills and mindset and the network to catalyse innovation entrepreneurship.
Our Journey So Far
Illume Foundation is incubated with grant and support
Illume Foundation wins the Open Innovation Challenge
Illume Foundation launches two flagship Programs
Aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goal
We believe ‘talent exists everywhere but opportunity doesn’t’. Entrepreneurship has the power to alleviate poverty, create meaningful opportunities and create the future we want and care about.
As a social enterprise, our programs are offered at highly subsidised cost . We also offer fully funded scholarship programs for fellows from the First Nations background and communities surviving hardships.
Our Values
We seek to build a community of talent and founders and that embody values we believe in.
Intellectual Curiosity
Having a growth mindset & be inquisitive about learning
Integrity
Doing the right thing in the right way
Pay it Forward
Pave the pathway for the next generation & support one another
Resilience
See challenges as opportunities and failures as learning experiences
Our Team
Laxmi Pun, Founder & Director
Laxmi led and ran the University of Melbourne’s Accelerator Program, MAP where she supported over 200+ early stage companies.
As the Investment Director at Breakthrough Victoria (Victoria’s $2b investment fund), she focused on investing in startups and spinouts from universities. At Startupbootcamp, she launched The Talent Institute.
Laxmi is part of AirTree Angel Network, board of GEN Australia and mentors startups through programs like CSIRO, Startspace, MedTech Actuator.
Dr. Willian Korim (PhD), Entrepreneur In Residence
Willian is a co-founder of two research-related startups in technology serving biotech and construction.
He has worked as Postdoctorial Research fellow with the University of Melbourne, Florey Institute and Austin Health. He has published over 18 scientific articles and teaches entrepreneurship. He served as a Senior Consultant at Strategic Project Partners.
He holds PhD in Neuroscience and Masters in Entrepreneurship from the University of Melbourne.
Prof. Kwang Lim, Innovation & Entrepreneurship Course Advisor
Kwang is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the Melbourne Business School (MBS). His research explores the strategies used by organisations to manage inventors, scientists and the knowledge they create.
At MBS, Kwang co-founded the Melbourne Biodesign course which has successfully spun out Biotechnology companies.
Kwang holds PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA.
Our Fellows Guild
Our Fellows Guild provides guidance on policies and matters relating to our student and graduate community and are appointed for 2 years.
Pooja Goel
Masters of Information Systems, University of Melbourne
Abhijit Bhaumik
Masters of Information Systems, University of Melbourne
Luminous Akazua
PhD in Analytics, University of Technology, Sydney
Belle Shui
Masters in Marketing & Comms, University of Melbourne
