As a child growing up in Broome in Western Australia, Robert Dann collected boab nuts for his mum to cook. Now the entrepreneur has created Bindam Mie, a company that turns boab nuts into beer and other products. 

As kids, we weren’t well off, there were days when we didn’t have any food. We would collect the boabs in the dry season and eat the flesh. We would also take it back home and mum would put it in hot water, add a bit of sugar and make a porridge.

The idea for Bindam Mie evolved out of his tour company, Kimberley Cultural Adventures. “I was giving my guests a taste of the boab iced tea on my tours. Often they would ask where they could buy the boab powder that I used to make the tea. That got me thinking about creating my own products."

Today, Bindam Mie employees young Indigenous workers to process and packages the nuts at a commercial kitchen in Broome. “With the knowledge I am teaching younger ones, it empowers them to take it further as well. It’s creating economic development for the whole of the Kimberleys. It’s caring for country.”