Before skincare brand The Jojoba Company was selling one bottle every minute, few Australians had even heard of its namesake key ingredient. In fact, the business’s success can be traced back to a gamble made decades ago by founder Vicki Engsall’s father, who planted the unfamiliar crop on his farm near Yenda in the Riverina. “It was a bold decision with no guarantees of success,” Engsall tells Inside Retail today. “But he could see the potential of a crop that was both susta
stainable and suited to the Australian environment.” Today, the products are stocked in more than 2,000 retail doors globally, including the iconic Harrods in London. “I believed if we educated consumers and stayed true to the science, the ingredient would eventually speak for itself.”
The Jojoba Company’s rise mirrors one of Australian agriculture’s more unexpected success stories. Early attempts to establish a local jojoba industry during the 1980s collapsed, before renewed breeding by the CSIRO and NSW Department of Agriculture produced varieties suited to the rather unforgiving Australian climate. Engsall’s father was among just a handful of growers willing to cultivate the Wadi-Wadi jojoba variety under Australian conditions. Today, what began as a 30-hectare plantation has expanded to almost 100 hectares, with the entire harvest supplying The Jojoba Company’s skincare range.
The family established Beresford Farm in 2000, while Engsall’s own introduction to jojoba arrived by coincidence during pregnancy, when a naturopath recommended the ingredient. Only later did she discover that the product she trusted every day was growing on her father’s farm, which prompted a “lightbulb moment”. Her proposition to develop a jojoba product was certainly ambitious for its time during the early 2000s, when Australian consumers weren’t familiar with jojoba, let alone why it complemented their skincare routine. Engsall explained she spent hours introducing Australians to an ingredient historically mistaken for an oil when, in actual fact, as Engsall puts it, “a liquid wax ester that closely mimics the natural oils found in healthy human skin.”
Education became the company’s most valuable currency as the father and daughter, and today, The Jojoba Company is tending to a discerning customer base who reads ingredient lists with the same enthusiasm for price tags. Those changing habits have created fertile ground for brands prepared to privilege evidence over novelty, as Engsall claimed today’s shopper seeks formulations that preserve skin health over decades, opposed to age-defying miracles” “Women want healthier, stronger, more resilient skin.” Every potential ingredient is examined through what Engsall calls two lenses: science and synergy. The company asks whether credible scientific evidence exists, whether the ingredient solves a genuine problem, and crucially, whether it enhances jojoba’s performance. “We would rather launch fewer products with stronger evidence than chase every trend that comes along.”
Since the company’s establishment, scale has inevitably followed, and the business that once packed orders from a loungeroom is now stocked in more than 2,000 retail doors, available internationally, sold through Harrods in the UK and has become Priceline Pharmacy’s leading natural skincare brand. Education is still part of the pudding, as Ensgall explained, the team maintain their focus on helping people utilise the unique properties of Australian-grown jojoba to achieve healthy, resilient skin. Engsall also noted candidly that she has grown alongside the customers whose changing skincare needs now influence product development.
The timing has proved fortuitous, as the global jojoba oil market is projected to grow from about $900 million in 2025 to $1.6 billion by 2034, according to Imarc Group. This ascension is perhaps driven by rising demand for natural and organic products, scrutiny of ingredient transparency and an overall interest in sustainably sourced botanicals. Jojoba’s unique chemical composition also closely resembles humans’ natural oil, sebum, which may have bolstered its application across premium skincare, haircare and pharmaceutical formulations. Its unique trajectory emphasises how consumer preferences reward ingredients supported by scientific credibility as much as compelling storytelling.
Every brand has an origin story. The Jojoba Company began in the red soil of the Riverina, where the world’s only pure Wadi-Wadi jojoba has been cultivated for more than 25 years. Engsall believes the future belongs to skincare that combines Australian-grown botanicals with rigorous science, as consumers become more savvy with what they consume and put on their skin. The destination may have expanded well beyond Yenda, though the ambition has scarcely altered. “The mission is the same,” she said. “We’re just reaching a lot more people today.”
Further reading: How Jared Pobre pivoted from tech to skincare
