Fiona Harrison eager to continue growing her Chocolate on Purpose business

Now, she is a successful entrepreneur behind the brand, Chocolate on Purpose, whose main ingredients are native Australian plants such as wattleseed, quandong, Davidson plum, native pepper berry, fingerlimes, rosella and riberry.

"These native plants are chosen because they create beautiful distinctive flavours in our chocolates, they are paired with our chocolates for their aroma," Ms Harrison said.

"We want people to ask 'what is that taste?' when they try our chocolates because we want to promote the qualities of Australia's native foods."

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Handcrafted at her home near Orange, Chocolate on Purpose is a popular sweet likened to the smoothness of big name chocolate brands such as Cadbury and Belgian, and she says her customers are intrigued by the distinct flavours.

Ms Harrison said her company aims to "educate the world about native superfoods" grown in Australia by its Indigenous community whose wisdom and culture have a deeper history than what's being told.

"My mission is to deepen the respect for ancient Indigenous wisdom and culture through storytelling my chocolate," she said.

"I use a smooth blend of chocolate that is familiar to everyone's palates so that Australian native botanical plants stand out to the taste buds and create the conversation around Indigenous issues.

"It is our mission to return sovereignty to Indigenous people by making successful enterprises for our own self determination."

With corporate partners, her chocolates are shipped everywhere across the country and overseas for a growing band of online customers, and Ms Harrison has "a big dream" to build her own chocolate factory in the region employing locals.

Ms Harrison is among the many Indigenous entrepreneurs tapped by the Dubbo Regional Council to showcase her product at the planned Wiradjuri Cultural and Tourism Centre to be built at the Dubbo Botanic Gardens announced last year.

But while the centre is not yet up and running, Ms Harrison sells her chocolates to online customers in the Dubbo area while awaiting progress from council and the Aboriginal Land Council.

"I started the business primarily because we found out that less than one per cent of the supply chain providers of Indigenous native foods are Indigenous people yet the food industry is built on our cultural knowledge," she said.

"That's why I chose from the very beginning to obtain my fruit ingredients from Indigenous people growing the fruits.

"By helping them to sell their produce we are helping each other provide for the supply chain."

The ingredients are sourced from Indigenous growers in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and Northern Territory while the cacao are imported from cacao farmers in the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Ecuador.

Ms Harrison also became part of the Global Sisters network assisting disadvantaged women and their families improve their livelihood and financial security.

But Ms Harrison's business ideas are broader than the tonne of chocolates she makes every year, and it included scaling up the supply chain collaborating with Indigenous food businesses and services across the country.

"Indigenous-owned businesses are most likely to return their investments into the community and act as role models for others as a way for self-determination and sovereignty," she said.

"Outside of obtaining supplies for my ingredients, I am engaging with Indigenous graphic designers [to design my packaging], accountants [to help me run my business], and other businesses in the industry so we are helping each other build each other's business."

Ms Harrison said her ultimate vision of building a chocolate factory in the region will provide employment to Indigenous women and training young people in horticulture by growing native fruits and plants that are used as food ingredients in the global food supply chain.

"My big dream would be to have enough land with a chocolate factory on it and producing fruits from native plants so when people come they would be able to see, smell and taste it, and learn how to make it at the factory," Ms Harrison said.

"We will run an employment program, have our own chocolate processing plant and be able to do everything ourselves as an indigenous-run industry.

"Research has shown that when Indigenous people are engaged in tasks their ancestors did like handling foods, weaving and arts, they promote the healing process.

"So I am continuing the storytelling, as the song line says about sharing the values of our native plants as [food ingredients], their uses and who grows them."