A Love Story: How Organic Initiative and Dignity went from strangers to partners

How did Dignity score the fastest growing organic sanitary item supplier in New Zealand? The real story is here.

Three weeks into the Viclink Entrepreneurial Bootcamp Dignity realised that to have affordable sanitary items, we needed a sanitary item supplier.

As tempting as it was to get 1000 tampons from Alibaba for 50c each, we knew women's health, the environment and our reputation needed more.

Enter Organic Initiative, a New Zealand sanitary items supplier started by 2016 New Zealander of the Year Helen Robinson. OI only started in October 2016 and has quickly grown to be shelved in all supermarkets and dairies across New Zealand.

When we started looking for local suppliers OI stood out with their strong vision that resonated with Dignity's well:

The Oi Vision

Oi revolutionaries aim to empower people everywhere to make great choices about our health and the health of our world.

We aspire to create a positive impact on people and the environment. 

Our vision is to inspire positive change by transcending social and cultural barriers. 

We are a heart-centred organisation and we use business as a force for good, through our business practices and products we aspire to do good always. 

We aim to not only be the best in the world but to also be the best for the world. 

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To get the attention of this amazing company Dignity rang Organic Initiative one sunny afternoon at the Biz Dojo, we got Helen's answerphone and left a tentative message explaining who we are and what we do. We had only started Dignity for three weeks.

We sat at the Biz laughing about how crazy it is that two 21-year-olds have an incorporated company and dream that we could partner with such an awesome company.

Then the phone rang. Looking at the phone we turned to each other not knowing what to really do but answer, we wrote a list of key points we wanted to say and bravely picked up the phone.

Helen loved the idea and we decided we had to Skype that week to work through a partnership agreement. 

At the Skype meeting, we met Bridgette Jackson - Organic Initiative's Change Maker and we decided our idea had to happen. 

Ever since that phone call, we have collectively been strong advocates for giving women dignity and of each others business mission - it has been important for both of our success that women are supporting other women. 

We at Dignity love Organic Initiative as the quality of their products is the best in the market and they align perfectly with what we believe. 

You can follow OI on Facebook and buy their product online at oi4me.com.