Continuing our story on a new generation of entrepreneurs. GEORGE SMITH recounts how his love for travelling led him to his business idea, as he wanted to take personal care products with him but encountered some problems. 

Not wanting to add to the world’s mountain of plastic, and not being able to take liquids onto airplanes, he looked for some shampoo bars but discovered everything was targeted towards women.

His answer was Washbloc, a range of products with a more blokey design.

“I didn’t really know who my customer was; I thought it was like me and my mates and that sort of thing. And my first product was just going to be a simple bar that did everything for everyone and they could take it travelling and camping,” Mr Brown says.

But it was more successful than anticipated and he’s had to branch out into new products for different hair types, while it’s niche appeal has seen a few approaches from overseas distributors – one potential goldmine is a contact he met at a trade exhibition who’s keen to get Washbloc into his Asian distribution network.

Spacemarket coordinator Sarah Booth said her books were “bursting at the seams” with budding entrepreneurs hoping to find an office space but not yet big enough to take on a full lease. 

“I think with the disruption of the pandemic, people have started to rethink their hobbies and are going ‘you know, I could do more with this’.” 

Ms Booth said this new generation of entrepreneurs would be the businesses to fill many of Freo’s busy shops in the future, but they weren’t getting the support to get them into a workspace.