Venu Cameron’s career background is in corporate procurement. Venu and her family left that world and moved to live off grid in rural Northern NSW. Venu wanted to create a product that echoed her values and the sustainable world she was trying to create for her family. That is how Venuzi Pit Paste evolved.
There are many challenges for businesses in rural areas, including access to post offices and professional development, and all the environmental emergencies that impact businesses such as flood and fire.
When Femeconomy first met Venu, we asked about her B2B strategy. At that time Venu seemed disheartened when she wouldn’t hear back from potential buyers. Femeconomy asked her to share more about her procurement background, when she was in the buyers seat. Venu shared how the suppliers who were successful contacted procurement teams consistently and therefore, were top of mind when opportunities arose. They were also resilient to all the knock backs. What Venu realised is that she already had the skills and inside knowledge of how to grow her business, she just needed help in connecting the dots.
From this discussion Femeconomy connected her with two potential buyers – Byron Food Coop, which sells Byron Bay based products to over 350 retailers across Australia, and a new venture being launched by a current Femeconomy member. From the introduction to Byron Food Coop and the feedback the buyers gave her, Venu was able to adapt her product offering and pricing list. This feedback was invaluable to Venu as it would have been difficult to find another potential buyer who was willing to provide this level of feedback.
The wholesale Femeconomy member have confirmed they will stock Venu’s product on their soon to be released site, and are seeking other ethical products in Femeconomy’s network to promote. Helping connect Venu with values aligned opportunities has enabled her to flourish within her rural setting.
A common thread for many female leaders in Femeconomy’s network is carving out time for themselves and their businesses. This became even harder when the global pandemic hit and home schooling was required. To help Venu, Femeconomy sourced a complimentary ticket to an Online Business Summit, which was a full day of workshops and networking. Venu valued the experience and the professional development as it helped her make space for the business around her competing priorities. Since then, Femeconomy has shared other free professional development opportunities to assist Venu in her business.
Venu’s recent female leader interview on LinkedIn also trended on the platform in #genderequality. It shows that businesses are connecting with her brand story, and that the pandemic has made us all reflect on how we are living our values in business.
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