oOh!media has named The Unexpected Guest, an Australian breakfast food products company, the inaugural winner of its inaugural Indigenous Business Grant.
The grants were launched to support Indigenous small businesses with pro-bono and significantly discounted out of home media packages. The Unexpected Guest was one of 63 submissions received from a wide range of Indigenous companies across a range of categories, including FMCG, labour hire, and retail.
Sarah Young, group director, ESG, oOh!media said: “The quality of submissions for our first Indigenous Business Grant were outstanding and we want to thank all those that took the time to apply.
“Amongst the strong contenders was The Unexpected Guest, an innovative business that has demonstrated ongoing success and resilience and we are delighted to help support Jenny and this First Nations small business with national audiences at scale across the oOh! network.”
Founded in 2016 by Jenny Khan in southwest Sydney, The Unexpected Guest creates products that promote health and wellbeing. These include health bars and organic mueslis made with native ingredients and sourced from Australian-owned businesses. In addition, it supports organic and fair trade practices.
The breakfast food company was selected by oOh!’s assessment team because of its entrepreneurial spirit, growth ambitions, and commitment to working with like-minded partners to advance First Nations commerce.
Khan, director and owner of The Unexpected Guest, said: “As a fully First Nations Australian small business, we love bringing our great tasting organic breakfast products to the tables of people across the country.
“Driving awareness of the brand continues to be a challenge, so being chosen by oOh! for its first Indigenous Business Grant will give us much needed exposure to help us realise our objectives. We’re thrilled our efforts have been recognised in this way and can’t wait to work with oOh!’s team to share The Unexpected Guest with more Australians.”
The out of home media company launched its inaugural Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to strengthen awareness of, and relationships with, First Nations people last year. It is currently in the development phase of the Innovate RAP, the next stage of the RAP Framework, that focuses on strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and piloting strategies for further reconciliation commitments.
Following the significant interest and applications for the inaugural Indigenous Business Grant, oOh!media will open applications for the 2025 initiative this December.
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Top image: Jenny Khan and Sarah Young