In his early 20’s Sam developed and ran a company which offered a wide range of sporting programs to youth across the Frankston, Bayside & Mornington Peninsula. Whilst finishing his final year of a Bachelor of Sports Management at Victoria University he was accepted by St Kilda to complete his final work placement which in large was to assist with getting the club’s Next Generation Academy off the ground. Sam is now St Kilda’s Community Football and Next Generation Academy Coordinator - a role that includes management of school and community football programs, growing connections and player visitations with Auskick and junior clubs, , assisting junior community leagues in increasing the number of young girls participating in football, and coordinating all aspects of the annual ‘Collective Bargaining Agreement’ requirements for player appearances. Sam is also tasked with managing St Kilda’s Multicultural & Indigenous community platforms as well as developing innovative new concepts to engage athletes from diverse cultures and non-traditional football backgrounds.
Amongst their products were fluoride free toothpaste but their children did not like the taste of them. Michael tried to mix up his own toothpaste but wasn’t successful. He met a local toothpaste manufacturer who had a chemist who produced samples under Michael & Michelle’s direction. The samples were made from natural products, completely free from artificial ingredients and preservatives - no fluoride, no parabens, no artificial colours or flavours, no preservatives, no sugar and no sulphates. Shelf life and stability was achieved from the base product (calcium silicate) and herbs were used to replicate the flavours.
Using the name ‘Grants’ (from the street in which they lived at the time), the finished products were produced by the local manufacturer and small batches were stored at home and sold in their own shops.
They gave samples to health product representatives who came to their stores and these representatives led them to distributors who Michael visited in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane and started to wholesale the toothpaste for sale into health food stores. One local distributor sold Grants Toothpaste into Safeway, and in 1992 Mike secured a position for Grants Herbal & Mineral Toothpaste in Coles health food section.
From modest beginnings with one variety of toothpaste in several health stores in Melbourne, Grants toothpaste spread to nearly every health store in Australia and by the early 1990’s it was stocked in major supermarkets right across the country.
But their quest for more natural products didn’t finish with toothpaste. In 1995 they developed Vitamin B Liquid and Crystal Deodorant, and in 2009 they developed an alcohol free Mouthwash.
After a career in banking, Tammy joined her parents in the business in 2011 and continued the quest to produce affordable, natural products for the next generation of health conscious families.
The oral care range now includes 7 toothpaste flavours: Mild Mint, Fresh Mint, Cinnamon, Xylitol, Propolis, Kids Blueberry Burst and Kids Strawberry Surprise, and a Natural Mouthwash and a choice of 3 bamboo toothbrushes.
The desire to establish the brand in the US led them to obtain Vegan certification (for products that do not contain animal products or byproducts and that have not been tested on animals). The Oral Care range now includes five toothpastes and a mouthwash which are Certified Vegan by the Vegan Awareness Foundation.
Export demand has grown steadily in line with increasing desire for natural and Australian made products and markets now include USA, China, Canada, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore.
As a small, family-run business in Melbourne, Grant’s believe it is important to give back to their community and support those in need. Each year they donate toothpaste to organisations that support people in the community who wouldn’t otherwise have access to a basic commodity, like toothpaste. In 2017, they donated almost 4,000 tubes of toothpaste.
Their health food community customers also led them to animal welfare, and the support of organisations that are dedicated to animal rights and protecting their natural environments. In 2013 they adopted a koala through the Australian Koala Foundation and they provide vegan toothpaste to the direct-action crew aboard the SSS Steve Irwin, which is part of the world’s leading direct action ocean conservation organisation.
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Both companies were developing the technology to take this waste material and recycle it, so it was a natural progression for them to join forces in 2001 as Repeat Plastics Australia (trading as Replas) and combine the unique expertise, products and manufacturing capabilities of both companies.
Replas has since developed world leading technologies that enable them to reprocess Australia’s waste into more than 200 robust recycled plastic products including outdoor furniture, bollards, signage, and decking. These products are resistant to termites, microorganisms and moisture, and will never split, rot, crack or need painting.
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Replas boasts a range of state-of-the-art machinery ensuring they operate with a high degree of energy efficiency - using about 25% of the power that it takes to make virgin plastic. Also, as they do not wash the plastic there is no water used, and colour and UV stabilisers they add represent just 2% of the product.
They partner with many Australian companies, such as Dulux and Coles, who have taken responsibility for the plastic waste they create to assist them in reducing their environmental impact by ensuring their plastic waste is recycled and reused within Australia.
Recycling plastic not only reduces the amount of waste going to landfill, but it also eliminates the need to use precious natural resources. Human ingenuity has produced plastic. Replas believes the same ingenuity will produce solutions to using and reusing these products in a sustainable way and the purchase of these products by councils, schools, and industry will help to close the loop on recycling and create a Circular Economy.
Equipped with over 18 years of experience in the recruitment business, Linda set up the company to offer customised recruitment solutions to clients after seeing the need for a specialist agency that works to create strong and meaningful partnerships with their clients.
Situated within the Bayside suburb of Moorabbin, they are renowned for being experts in recruitment supporting all industry sectors with a focus on the manufacturing, industrial, and engineering businesses based within Melbourne’s South Eastern suburbs. elle belle recruitment are 'Big enough to deliver and small enough to care'.
The team at elle belle recruitment do not believe in a ‘one shoe, fits all' approach to recruitment so they provide innovative solutions to each individual client by working with them to understand their requirements, business structure and corporate culture to ensure the highest caliber staff can be sourced and represented. This flexibility and adaptability has ensured their continued success.
To ensure they remain ahead of their competitors and are consistently meeting the needs and expectations of their clients and candidates, elle belle recruitment conducts regular online surveys with both candidates and clients to ascertain their thoughts and receive both positive and constructive feedback. These surveys serve as an invaluable tool to reflect upon our service level and refine our processes both internally and externally to our clients and candidates.
elle belle recruitment aim to be viewed as industry experts so in addition to providing end to end recruitment, they also assist their clients with Process Improvement (position descriptions, coordinating on-boarding processes, conducting on site interviews with management), OHS/Safety (Safety assessments, support and feedback to help implement structured OHS plans), Competency bases Assessments (administration of skills based online assessments for candidates).
elle belle recruitment make a conscientious effort to thank their candidates and clients for their support. A temporary employee is selected by the staff at elle belle recruitment monthly to receive the "Temp of the Month" award in recognition of their efforts, hard work and commitment to the assignment and elle belle recruitment staff visit the candidate post placement once they have completed their initial three months and present them with a gift to recognise their efforts.
elle belle recruitment also provide a supportive, focused and learning focused culture by providing staff with opportunities to develop and gain experience that they would not be able to achieve in larger recruitment firms, and whilst growth is always a focus, they plan for steady growth to ensure the high service levels are maintained. Growth is also planned via alliances with like-minded businesses to expand their client and candidate base and help them become the employment agency of choice for candidates and clients within the industrial and manufacturing sector.
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