When Fiona Harrison began her chocolate business 10 years ago, she had a clear agenda.
The Wiradyuri entrepreneur and owner of Chocolate on Purpose wanted to use Wiradyuri language in her chocolate descriptions and on social media to garner attention. She wanted to make people pause and notice, to encourage their curiosity.
“I wanted to create awareness and educate so the ‘great amnesia’ of Australia can awaken and recognition of past events,” she told Women’s Agenda.
“To Redress, which means to set things right, towards restoration of what has been stolen and towards a place of Recompense, which means to compensate for injury and loss.
“The journey to the place of Reconciliation will be a place of authenticity and justice.”
Harrison took home this year’s Award for Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year at the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards for her role in building an Indigenous-led supply chain to empower “her mob”.
“Only 1% of producers in the Australian native food and botanical supply chain is Indigenous, despite the industry being founded and grown on the back of cultural wisdom and intellectual property,” she said.
“So I purchase botanical ingredients from Indigenous producers where I can, to enable them to increase their participation in their supply chains.”
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Harrison said that of that 1%, even fewer are women — yet they traditionally retain much of the plant knowledge.
“I feel I’m continuing the women’s business of sharing native botanicals to deepen respect for ancient Indigenous wisdom and culture,” she said. “I hope to find the injection of capital to acquire productive assets to scale from artisan to commercial, which is where I can commence employment strategies to support Indigenous women to reclaim sovereignty in the native botanical space.”
In her acceptance speech at the Leadership Awards, Harrison acknowledged the difficulties of the past two years, and thanked the matriarchs who have supported her throughout her time running Chocolate on Purpose.
“With my regional area experiencing firstly, drought and then the effects of the bushfires even before we all got hit with the pandemic, the journey for me and my team has been a huge one of ups and downs,” she said.
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“When somebody sees you, and takes the time to think that you’re worthy of an award, and then takes the time out of their busy lives to nominate you, I really feel there’s a responsibility on the nominee to step into that and to wield it with purpose.”
It’s been a few weeks since the awards, and Harrison says she’s still feeling the impact.
“When you receive an award like this, it reminds you that you are ‘seen’ and making a difference,” she said. “I want my actions of social entrepreneurship to grow and create an even bigger impact, and Awards such as WALA boost ‘social proof’ and put me in front of new and bigger audiences.”
“These are all people and organisations who can support my mission and vision, and enable me to increase my reach, to grow my impact.”
Harrison brings her cultural identity as a Wiradyuri woman into every aspect of her business, feeling a responsibility to articulate her voice around issues that affect her mob.
“I try where I can to use my public reach to speak about topical information,” she said.
Being an entrepreneur has taught Harrison many valuable lessons, including the importance of getting ‘practical’ education and joining industry groups.
“Join industry professional associations because formal education like university will give you academic knowledge and industry education will give you the ‘secret sauce,” she said.
“Do the work to have a healthy relationship with money and be comfortable to ‘ask for the money,” she added. “Know what you and your product are worth.”
Harrison also explains the importance of making networking part of your business plan.
“It’s often never ‘who you know’, it’s ‘who they know’ that will be what you’re looking for.”
At the end of the day, nothing is more important than being passionate about what you do, or the product you’re selling.
“Make sure your choice of business is your passion because it’s the only thing that will keep you moving through the challenges that will inevitably arise,” she advised.
Over the next few years, Harrison hopes to scale to the first level of commercialisation. The more native botanicals she can buy from Indigenous producers, the greater she believes she can contribute to their growth.
She’s planning to set up a small-scale chocolate production facility to enable employment strategies for impact, as well as a Cultural Hub with a native botanical garden.
She’s also in the process of setting up chocolate workshops and cultural activities, where Indigenous and non-Indigenous people can come together to learn and heal.
“Every successful Indigenous business chips away a little more at the stereotypes of Indigenous people, so if I can be successful and contribute to that it makes me very happy,” she said.
“If my efforts are a model to younger mob looking for a way to make their mark in the world, then my job here is done.”
This article was first published by Women’s Agenda.
Jessie is a Women’s Agenda journalist.
