Dream win for Pilbara skincare business
A small Pilbara business run by a mother-daughter duo who create skincare products from native ingredients, was the big winner at a recent Shark Tank-style competition in Sydney.
Karratha’s Josie Alec and daughter Adrianna Irvine-Stanes won the main prize at Generations One’s inaugural Dream Summit on September 13, walking away with $30,000 in seed funding to help grow their business to the next level.
The duo own and run Jummi Factory, which produces a range of products including insect repellent, lip and skin balms, deodorant and perfume, all made with native Pilbara plants.
More than 80 of Australia’s most talented indigenous entrepreneurs attended Dream Summit and pitched their business ideas, with Jummi Factory winning $5000 as part of the EY Growth Accelerator Program, before going on to win the main prize from the Minderoo Foundation.
Ms Alec said it was a pretty intense process, but they had access to amazing mentors.
“There was $45,000 up for grabs, but we only asked for $30,000 as that’s how much we needed for our business restructure and marketing structure,” she said.
“We’ll be using that to get our most viable product, which is our Sacred Bush Rub, out to the rest of the country.
“It might need some tweaking and marketing, but it’ll really help us to get it out there.”
Dream Summit indigenous advisory group head Les Delaforce said although prizes were awarded, the main aim of the summit was to allow the entrepreneurs to learn from mentors.
“The participants walked away with a book full of contacts and advice on how to grow their ideas or existing businesses,” he said.
Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.
Sign up for our emails