Please give us your elevator pitch:

Asanti is an online store for everyday products from brands that give back. We support ethical brands who donate 50% or more of their profits to a cause, or have a “Buy 1, Give 1” model. We sell menstrual and personal hygiene products, gifts, kitchen products and plastic free alternatives.

What problem is your business solving?

Charities both locally and internationally rely on regular donations to successfully implement programs making positive impact in our world. Often this reliable funding is lacking. Asanti provides an online platform for brands who donate 50% or more of their profits to a charity through the sales of their products. Our store enables customers to find and purchase everyday products that give back, therefore allowing customers to donate to charities simply through their purchasing choices.

Tell us three things unique about your business:

Asanti offers over 40 products from 10 ethical brands. Each brand provides yearly evidence of their charitable giving, ensuring customers can be confident in supporting these brands and their work towards positive change. Each of the brands Asanti supports is working towards 3 of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. Customers can find out which goals and how their purchase will help amplify positive impact, through our website. As well as charitable giving, Asanti only supports brands who create their products ethically, provide fair wages to staff and have low environmental impact through their business activities. Asanti prides itself on being ethical and transparent in everything we do.

Can you tell us a little about your background and where the inspiration came from for your business?

In the past decade I spent over 3 years working across East Africa for organisations tackling extreme poverty. Time and time again I witnessed the frustrations that charities faced, when programs that were making positive impact, were halted by a lack of funding. Living back in Australia I simultaneously saw the power of ‘social enterprise’ or ‘brands that give back’. The simple link between purchasing products from social enterprises, and these brands financially supporting charities, provided that continuation of funding that was so often missing. I saw an opportunity to find and support grass-root ethical brands and create a marketplace where consumers could genuinely make a positive impact in the world, simply through the products they bought. And so, Asanti was born in 2020.