Grahams Naturally Wins Health Award

Written on the 29 October 2021 by Marshall Hall

A Gold Coast company that has specialised in developing natural remedies for skin conditions for more than 20 years has collected a health award.

The Nerang-headquarter Grahams Natural, which now exports products to 15 countries, was named the October winner of the Health and Wellbeing category at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards.

The company was founded after husband-and-wife Geoff and Shannon Graham tried to find natural solutions to their son Ryan’s severe eczema.

“Geoff had been an eczema sufferer his entire life and it was not until Ryan was born and developed severe eczema that we took matters into our own hands as we did not want Ryan to suffer his entire life like Geoff had,’’ Mrs Graham said.

“We set to work in our Gold Coast kitchen with a borrowed kitchen mixer to trial and after months of testing different concoctions of natural ingredients we found the one that worked on both Geoff and Ryan.”

The couple’s original product, C+ Eczema cream, then developed a cult following throughout Australia after it gained national media coverage.

“Over the past 20 years we have continued to develop, research, innovate and strive to become Australia’s number one natural choice for the treatment of eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, acne, diabetic footcare and suncare,’’ she said.

Five years ago, the company took the major step of transforming itself into a TGA-approved Medical Device manufacturer.

Mrs Graham said Medical Device companies were one of the most difficult levels of TGA registration to achieve.

“Our ingredient decks are all naturally based but now we have clinical efficacy, we can legally make medical claims about our products due to our registration,’’ she said.

“No other natural skin brand has ventured into this territory, and we continue to be the leaders.

“We also switched from being a boutique natural brand that mainly sold through health food stores into a more pharmaceutical looking brand that could rival some of our biggest skin care competitors.

“In doing this we were quickly recognized by the Chemist Warehouse chain, that has 60 per cent market share of the pharmacy market share and have 500 plus pharmacies around Australia and New Zealand.”

Mrs Graham said their products were now available in some of world’s largest pharmacy chains in the UK, Europe, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Middle East, Taiwan, Korea and Canada.

And the company is now pushing into the giant U.S. market and it is using social media channel Tik Tok as its key marketing channel.

“You mostly have to be a giant multinational corporation to get on the shelves of the major chemist chains in the United States, so we are taking a different approach,’’ Mrs Graham said.

“We have been using Tik Tok videos which explain our family’s story and the videos have gone viral.”

Grahams Natural is now a finalist in the Health and Wellbeing category for next month’s annual awards gala to be held at The Star.

The other October winners in the other Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards categories were:

• Emerging and Micro Business Award: Teleco Automation
• Mayor’s Innovation GC Award: Brauer Swim
• Student Engagement Award: Cohort Innovation Space
• Family Business Award: Diego’s Authentic Fine Foods
• Professions and Services Award: Michael Bale & Associates
• Construction and Trades Award: SEE Group
• Retail, Wholesale and Distribution Award: Tough Trucks
• Manufacturing Award: Superior Jetties
• IT and Digital Business Award: Powertec Telecommunications
• Tourism, Hospitality and Events Award: Gold Coast Turf Club

The awards, now in their 26th year, aim to foster pride in the city’s business community and highlight its importance as a business hub. Some of the city’s best-known companies can claim to have been winners.

The awards’ major sponsors include Dreamweavers, Mercedes Benz Gold Coast, Neumann Steel, Nucrush Group, Neumann Contractors, Neumann Developments, QSuper, Study Gold Coast, City of Gold Coast, Choice Homes, MPM Property, Westpac, Harvey Norman Commercial Queensland, Optus Business Centre Gold Coast and Griffith University. The awards’ media sponsors include the Gold Coast Bulletin, Nine NBN Television, 92.5 MMM and Hit 90.9.

The GCBEA’s major supporters are KPMG, Document Solutions Australia, Bloomtools, Consulting Hall, The Graphic Design Company, The Star Gold Coast and Regina King Photography.