Bottled water might be a cluttered industry sector but that hasn't stopped a small Indigenous family-owned business achieving strong growth in recent years.
Yaru Water was founded in 2011 by a Bundjalung family in partnership with a non-Indigenous family in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. From the outset, it was clear that this bottled water company was unlike the others on the market.
Yaru is a social enterprise that tells an important cultural story while also creating better health outcomes for Indigenous communities through the Yaru Foundation. Its ambition is to encourage similar business models that create positive social change and bring Indigenous culture to the forefront.
From its inception, Yaru Water was a carbon neutral business with sustainability and community at its heart. It also formalised its community impact by setting up not-for-profit, Yaru Foundation in 2016.
Sales raise funds for the Foundation that are donated to projects focused on improving health outcomes for Indigenous communities throughout Australia, particularly in remote areas.
Growth for Yaru has been a challenge, said director and Bundjalung man Paul Dodd.
"This is mainly due to the competitiveness of the bottled water industry and the major players doing their best to keep smaller players out of the marketplace, with the majority of these larger companies actually owned off-shore," he said.
In recent times Covid and flooding in the region also added significant challenges for Yaru.
But the company has forged on, managing to achieve growth thanks to large customers like Qantas coming on board.
Yaru's Indigenous partner pitched the premium water source that fills the recycled PET bottles, along with the community and social enterprise focus that underpinned the company.
After a deal was struck, Yaru began producing 1.5L bottles for Qantas customers which are now served to Qantas business class customers.
The relationship with Qantas and other national customers also enabled Yaru to branch out in other directions, including a range of flavoured sparkling mineral water.
In 2019, Yaru invested in a state-of-the-art production facility and now have the capacity to produce up to 60 million bottles per year.
The growth experienced by the small family-owned business in regional NSW has lead to it providing employment for 11 local people.
Qantas Group Manager First Nations Engagement and Tharawal woman Renee Wotton says the company is proud to showcase Yaru Water products.
"Not only does Yaru Water have an incredible story to tell, the company is are also reinvesting their sales into projects that contribute to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians through their not-for-profit foundation," Wotton said.
After becoming aware of Yaru Water and reaching out, Qantas enabled Yaru to invest in new technologies and expand their operations with Yaru Water now supplying up to 1.5 million bottles of still and sparkling water per year.
The national airline has long been keen to support Australian products and businesses that can demonstrate sustainable and ethical values, whilst having the capability to deliver large volume capacity, Dodd says.
Donations to the Yaru Foundation and the projects funded in the health space predominantly come from sales of Yaru Water.
One project included the Yaru Foundation funding the development and installation of a water filtration system in Western Australia, which provides 5,000 litres of safe, clean drinking water to a local community.
Yaru also provides support to The Fred Hollows Foundation and supports new Aboriginal mothers with the purchase of wellbeing items.
A new project with a well-known Indigenous not-for-profit is also on the horizon for Yaru, with the aim of testing a new health and wellbeing educational pilot in remote schools.
