Essence Of Humanity

Founded: May 2016 Trustees: Maree Fitzgerald, Cassandra Treadwell, Stacey Fraser, Bill Grierson Employs: 2 part-time contractors Legal status: Limited liability company with 100 per cent of shares owned by a charitable trust; all profits go to charities supporting children living in poverty.

Tell us about Essence of Humanity.

Cassandra Treadwell: We wanted to create change through a successful business that’s 100 per cent invested in returning all profits to support the poorest, most vulnerable children around the world. Our natural skincare uses ethically sourced ingredients from New Zealand and Africa.

What’s your ‘why’? With governmentsourced international aid declining, we feel it’s important for the business and philanthropic worlds to work with individual global citizens to fight poverty. So four of us – Stacey Fraser, who makes our beautiful products, our investors and entrepreneurs Maree Fitzgerald and Bill Grierson, and myself – launched the company in April 2017. The African philosophy of ubuntu, which means the essence of being human, sits at the core of Essence of Humanity. It acknowledges, as we hope our social business does, that we cannot be happy while others are sad. What are the biggest challenges? Trying to make a loud noise in a busy world! Hopefully we reach people who care, who understand the change that is needed in consumerism; if we spend our money on conscious consuming, what an amazing difference we could make. Do you sense a growing appetite from consumers to support social enterprises? Absolutely, it enables people to nourish themselves while nourishing others.

What’s your goal? A successful social business that makes lots of money and gives it all away to children in need.