“Less than 2% of the native ag+food sector is represented by Indigenous people. Further to this only 0.2% of all Australian businesses are operated by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander women.”

Diramu is rooted in respect for Aboriginal culture and reaches for socio-economic improvement on country. Every aspect of our range is aimed at transformative change: reducing our environmental impact, creating opportunities to improve Aboriginal communities, and ensuring a sustainable future for Australian native species.

We have created an Australian Beauty (A-Beauty) range that goes beyond our own brand, building a platform for other Indigenous-owned skincare brands to launch from as well…

Diramu partners with one of Australia’s leading extract manufacturers to mentor a select number of young aspiring Indigenous entrepreneurs on their journey to create their own skincare brands. In our shop you’ll see a number of other brands’ products – these are theirs!

WHAT DOES THIS PROGRAM DO?

The program provide resources and support including entrepreneurship programs, business and marketing skills, product development partnerships, and industry connections to ensure the mentees’ success in creating and launching Indigenous skincare products that will evolve into strong brands with new stories to tell. This program is a launch pad for more new Indigenous skincare and wellness brands, which brings a new dimension to what Australian Cosmetics means. These mentees will inspire their peers and community. We need more women in science and the cosmetic industry offers a range of exciting career paths for women in STEM – this program offers inspiration for young Indigenous women to pursue tertiary studies in this field, where they can apply the science with their cultural knowledge. (from L’s quote in an interview)

WHY ARE WE PASSIONATE ABOUT GROWING MORE INDIGENOUS-OWNED NATIVE SKINCARE BRANDS?

“I’m hoping that young women will be empowered to step outside of their comfort zone while also being able to stay in community and do what they love. I hope that there will be socioeconomic changes and that it will contribute to a circular economy that will keep building over time. It’s opening doors to supporting all women in the sector more broadly and this has the potential to impact many lives, even beyond the program participants that we’re currently working with.”

– Dominic Smith, Diramu Founder

“Diramu is inspired by Aboriginals’ preservation of ancient native plant knowledge. It is a national treasure that our purpose is to protect.” – Dominic Smith

Australian native botanicals or bush medicines have become prevalent throughout personal care and the culinary space. With this comes increased demand, and thus a responsibility to ensure their survival. With many of these species still being wild-harvested, they may not be commercially grown, which puts them at risk of being over-harvested or upsetting ecosystems by reducing other species’ source of food.

We work with other growers and wild-harvesters to introduce them to regenerative and efficient agricultural processes, to brainstorm more sustainable ways of producing native plants, to introduce them to new high-value markets and opportunities to benefit from moving up the supply- chain by creating value-added products.In addition to our work with growers, we also procure our extracts from an eco-conscious manufacturer that uses rain-harvested water, and has innovated an energy and biomass efficient extraction process to reduce the amount of plant matter needed for a superior extract. Reducing the demand of native species is one of the easiest steps in easing our impact on the supply chain, which we help our mentors do as well!Learn more about our eco-conscious extracts here!