Tell us a bit about your business, and how you got your idea or concept.
Wash Bloc’s core mission is to ‘change the way the world washes.’ By converting consumers away from traditional liquid products that are predominantly packaged in plastic bottles, to solid Blocs we can save millions of plastic packaging from littering our planet. Think any liquid personal care product - shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, shaving cream, serums, face cleansing cream, exfoliating wash, body wash - we make it into a hard bar so we can package it plastic-free.
How did you get started and what has your journey looked like to date?
Since I was really young I’ve had heaps and heaps of different business ideas. I’ve started some and they’ve all failed miserably, and I’ve seriously researched the viability of oodles of business ideas. While at university, my ideas began to pick up a theme of sustainability. My previous idea that I spent six months investigating was solving the waste problem of disposable cutlery. I wanted to create edible disposable cutlery that was 100% zero waste. I had engaged a freelance product engineer to design metal moulds, received quotes from local tool-makers to build the tooling and commenced looking for industrial space but I came to the conclusion that production limitations of the product and extremely low margins, coupled with the high cost for machinery to produce these products, made it unviable. Unknowingly, I was building myself up to start Wash Bloc.
What is your background (education/work/experience) and how has it helped you on your journey?
I studied a double major in Marketing and French. My aim was to couple my interests in entrepreneurship with a language skill that would assist my passion for travel. My time at UWA was formative in my journey. I enrolled in the Bloom LaunchPad unit and this was an amazing insight into the startup world and taught me so much about bootstrapping and the lean canvas methodology. I pitched my eco idea of vending machines that disperse liquid cleaning products into your own bottles in an effort to reduce plastic consumption to a panel of respected venture capitalists. The unit ensured all participants thought through every aspect of a start-up meticulously. I couldn’t speak highly enough of this experience. I was also fortunate enough to visit French Polynesia on the New Colombo Plan and had a short exchange on a UWA scholarship to New Caledonia to hone my newfound language skills. Both of these trips were incredible.
Where do you see your business in the next five years?
The challenge ahead is to educate consumers on the many benefits of solid beauty products. Our products are essentially the same as all liquid beauty products but without the 90% of the water that brands have been getting away with diluting their products with to increase their profit margins. Oh and without the harmful chemicals that cause havoc in the natural environment as well as damage human health. It is hard for consumers to change their habits. For example, using a liquid shampoo or moisturiser for many years and then being told to use a product that doesn’t squeeze out of a bottle and looks like soap is hard. That's why we have to remove the stigma of solid Blocs being soap. In fact, we don’t make any soap products. So in the next five years, the challenge is to educate consumers to change behaviour.
To what do you attribute your success?
While I haven’t even scratched the surface of what I’m trying to achieve with my first real start-up, I am in my first year. I guess my real strength lays in being incredibly driven and passionate about what I’m trying to do. Consistent effort and drive. Currently, I’m painstakingly making all of the products myself, but throughout the year I have been negotiating with local Australian manufacturers, trialing samples and giving feedback. There has been a lot of iterations with this process and the COVID situation has really slowed down progress. At times, offloading the production has seemed impossible, but I’ve never lost sight of my goal. I am so close now to tying up the loose ends which will free me up for areas of the business that require more attention.
Words of wisdom
Find what really excites you and what you have a passion for and then work backwards to build a career in your area of passion. How? Start networking. I firmly believe you will have the most success in life by following your interests and reaching out to people to exchange ideas.
About George
I am a 24-year-old male with a passion for entrepreneurship, travelling and sustainability. Nothing excites me more than building a brand with core values entrenched in solving issues around sustainability. I was born in Western Australia and have been lucky to travel to many countries, often on surfing trips. In my travels, I have seen the problems caused by single-use plastic. Beaches absolutely littered with plastic, including a fair number of shampoo bottles, and oceans with a heartbreaking amount of rubbish. These experiences have been the motivation for Wash Bloc. I’m on a mission to change the way the world washes. You can find George and Wash Bloc online, Instagram and the Foundr podcast.