Young entrepreneur Eloise Hall is in the business of doing good but is not afraid of "opening a can of worms" in the process.
The TABOO co-founder – a social enterprise that sells sanitary products, with all profits going towards ending period poverty – says consumers want to support businesses that give back.
It is among the many topics she spoke about at the inaugural byADL Business Summit earlier in 2022, where leaders in sectors including economics, tourism and retail will come together to share insights about Adelaide's future.
"If you're a business owner and you're not thinking about the social outputs your company is making, young people, especially, will be critical about that. They don't have much room for compromise in their decision making in this current climate," Ms Hall says.
"People are really looking to support the businesses that are giving back, not just making sizable profits.
"COVID-19 was a disruption that revealed how unequal the playing field is in business, as we watched the world's wealthiest become substantially wealthier and the world's poorest suffer the most."
"So I guess, the most radical perspective that I bring to the discussion is the distribution of wealth chat - it is quite provocative, and it opens a can of worms, but as a city we need to consider where our values are … and what is the best way to go about it."
TABOO was devised in 2016 after Ms Hall and her business partner Isobel Marshall attended a leadership conference where they were exposed to the social enterprise model of business.
With a passion for ending period poverty around the globe and breaking down menstrual stigma, TABOO began during the summer holidays before starting their final year of high school.
The brand is now known for its socially conscious certified organic cotton pads and tampons that are sold on byADL.
Hall and Marshall have been working hard to start up TABOO’s Pad it Forward program where customers can buy their sanitary products on behalf of women in Australia that need them.
"I want to have that discussion on how we can design our city and our businesses to invest in sustainable equality," Ms Hall says.
"Because there is so much more to business than money now, and that is the consumer trend we can see growing really rapidly."
