Oceanic Fusion
Young Enterprise Trust
St Thomas of Canterbury College
Years 11–13
Teacher: David Ivory
Oceanic Fusion is an organic cosmetics company formed by St Thomas of Canterbury College students Charlie Latilupe, Kasiano Petelo, Mathew Eliand, Caleb Reweti, Jordan Koloamatangi and Tom Scott. With an original, comprehensive business plan that provided aid to Pacific Island communities and maintained sustainable green business practices, Oceanic Fusion won the Lion Foundation NZ Young Enterprise Trust Company of the Year award in 2010.
The Young Enterprise Scheme puts a focus on creating links between promising young students and industry, facilitating relationships between students and business mentors.
Oceanic Fusion origins
For Oceanic Fusion the journey began in October 2009 when the boys began planning the establishment of an organic cosmetic company that would provide some support for Pacific Island communities hit hard by recent environmental disasters, while supporting local production in the Canterbury region and utilising green accounting policies.
The boys were of Samoan, Tongan, Māori and Pakeha backgrounds, and they wanted their product to reflect their heritage. "We wanted to fuse our diverse cultural identities into a commercial entity to generate a financial profit as well as passion and pride within our local and island communities,' communications director Tom Scott explains.
The first step towards this vision was determining the structure of the company. The boys decided to use a shared leadership model where all members have equal share in the role of joint managing director but also take on individual roles to fit their experience and natural talent – areas such as finance, communications, production, sales and marketing, and planning and development.
The boys had little experience in creating a business, so they used the Young Enterprise resources to establish contact with mentors Keith Yardley and Peter Petaia for advice on how to make their vision a commercially viable reality.
The most important relationship established at this point was a partnership with Blue Earth, a local manufacturer of organic cosmetics that the boys felt had a similar green business philosophy to Oceanic Fusion. Blue Earth generously agreed to provide facilities, which turned out to be ideal facilities for producing their product.
With these contacts in place, the boys developed a long-term plan for the company, starting with the production of an organic soap to generate start-up revenue, leading into a more extensive and fully realised range of products.
Market research
The boys carried out research into the New Zealand cosmetics market, considering all the factors required to produce outcomes that they could not only be proud of, but would also be profitable enough to sustain and grow the company.
The team's research showed that there were already several strong products within New Zealand's organic cosmetics market, which meant that Oceanic Fusion needed a strong point of difference for their product to stand out. They decided to emphasise the Pacific connection in their branding, which they understood would require strong relationships with suppliers of ingredients from the islands.
This research also informed their decision to create a men's moisturiser in the future, as this was identified as a high growth market.
Carrot and orange soap
To create their first product, a carrot and orange soap, the team began trialling a variety of recipes at the Blue Earth facilities to get the fragrance and consistency just right for a prototype soap using a combination of ingredients such as rain water, coconut, olive and rice bran oils, tree resin and essential oils of orange, carrot and cinnamon.
Meanwhile the team created pamphlets to market their product within the local community and set up a relationship with the Service and Food Workers Union to help with the distribution and promotion of their product. These efforts paid off, as sales of the prototype soap through these channels helped to quickly grow the capital of the company.
During this time, the team also developed a strong relationship with Pacific Island suppliers of coconut oil and, most importantly, the moso'oi flower. This ingredient is sourced directly from Samoa and is unique to Oceanic Fusion, helping to create the point of difference for their product line and brand.
"Customers increasingly want to know if products are fair trade and where natural ingredients come from – they want traceability in the supply chain. Consequently, Oceanic Fusion aims to make every step of the supply chain transparent. We know where every ingredient comes from, and have knowledge of every component of the packaging and how it can be recycled," Tom explains.
Realising that a strong product alone was not enough to compete, the boys looked into ways of packaging and promoting their soap to help it fit its designated niche.
"We wanted to make a product that looked fantastic so that it would sell in department stores, is priced competitively so that it would sell in chemists, and is natural so that it would sell in health stores. As such, Oceanic Fusion's products are aimed at the 'affordable luxury' segment of the skincare market, with natural ingredients a main point of difference."
Oceanic Fusion's first fully realised first product is a carrot and orange soap that is wrapped in sustainable materials including recycled paper bound together with naturally dried raffia palm leaves. The company plans to release a second batch of products soon, including a range of moisturisers and hair care products all using incorporating moso'oi flower oil as a signature ingredient.
As well as taking out the Young Enterprise Trust's supreme award, Oceanic Fusion also won the competitions for the Best Business Card and the Best Stall at the Young Enterprise Trade Fair and also the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs Award for Excellence in Pasifika Business.
The Young Enterprise Scheme has awarded the boys individual scholarships to study at AUT, as well as a total of $6,000, $3,000 of which will go to the school for the creation of a ceremonial lectern "designed and carved to represent Māori, Pasifika and Celtic spirituality".
The remaining $3,000, along with all future profits from Oceanic Fusion products, will be donated to the Pacific Islands for tsunami relief support.
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