Our Commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
At Kenshi, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion are not policies we adopted. They are the reason we exist.
Kenshi was founded in 2017 by Liam Foldi at the age of 14, after a school visit to a Melbourne food charity where he saw hunger up close and decided something had to be done. From that moment, every candle and diffuser we have made has been hand-poured by refugees from Chin State, Myanmar — people who have fled civil war, lost homes and families, and rebuilt their lives in Melbourne through the craft of candle making.
We did not build a diversity program. We built a business whose entire purpose is to create economic opportunity for one of the world's most marginalised communities — and to fund food for people in need in Australia and Myanmar.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Our workforce reflects the communities we serve.
Our production team is composed entirely of Chin Myanmar refugees. Our leadership includes people of Australian, Filipino and Chin Myanmar backgrounds. We are not striving for diversity — we are an expression of it.
We create economic opportunity for people who need it most.
Every person who works in our Sunshine North production facility has a story of displacement, loss and resilience. Their employment is not charity. It is dignified, fairly paid work that funds lives and futures. The income earned at Kenshi directly supports families — in Melbourne, and through remittances, in Myanmar and India.
We fund food for systematically disadvantaged communities.
Our charity partners — AusChin Foundation, Alex Makes Meals, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), OzHarvest, Good Works and the Fr Bob Maguire Foundation — serve communities who are disproportionately affected by poverty, displacement and systemic inequality. Since 2017, every product sold has contributed to funding food for these communities — 142 tonnes and 1,100,000+ meals to date.
We take inclusion beyond our workplace.
Our corporate volunteering program brings Melbourne businesses into our Sunshine North facility to work alongside our Chin refugee team, hear their stories, and understand what inclusion looks like in practice — not in a presentation, but in a room, making candles together.
We hold ourselves accountable.
Our social impact is independently audited annually by Social Traders. Every donation receipt is published publicly on our website, going back to 2017. We do not make claims we cannot prove
Our Ongoing Commitments
- To maintain a workplace where every person — regardless of background, language, nationality or belief — is treated with dignity and respect
- To continue building economic opportunity for Chin Myanmar refugees and other marginalised communities in Melbourne
- To fund food for people experiencing disadvantage in Australia and Myanmar
- To be transparent about our impact — the good and the gaps
- To review our practices regularly through a justice and equity lens and improve where we can
