Food & Drink Business editor Kim Berry talks to Shawn Andrews, founder of Dhuwa Coffee, Australia’s first indigenous owned, managed and controlled coffee enterprise, and Peter Patisteas, managing director of Griffiths Brothers coffee roasters.

We start the episode with a discussion on coffee and its role in bringing people together. Shawn explains how the communal nature of coffee was part of the inspiration in creating Australia’s first indigenous brand of the little brown bean. Shawn and Pete talk about their partnership and the connection between Australia’s oldest culture and its oldest coffee roasting house working together.

Shawn spends some time sharing his experiences and insights about being an Indigenous person in business. We discuss the need for greater understanding and support in workplaces for Indigenous people dealing with intergenerational trauma and disadvantage. Pete explains the benefits to Griffiths Bros as the two businesses worked together, adding greater diversity and understanding to the workplace.

The conversation moves on to developing the Dhuwa brand, sourcing their coffee beans and engaging with Woolworths, including the scale of their initial product request, the short fulfilment timeframe and the logistics associated with it. We then move on to the differences between some indigenous businesses and those which are owned, managed and controlled by indigenous people.

Shawn discusses ways to support indigenous people and how even small changes can lead to societal change, allowing people to work together towards reconciliation. Both Shawn and Peter acknowledge the importance of maintaining culture and language, engaging with people and being willing to try new languages and concepts.

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The Food & Drink Business Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of Food & Drink Business, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

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MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Kim Berry

Editor: Chris Visscher

Producer: Steve Visscher

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