Journey to Becoming Australia's Most Caring Brand

 The Community 

Micador cares for the community and this is demonstrated in a way that really adds value. When customers, schools or businesses need supplies or are affected by the pandemic or a natural disaster, we have been quick to step up and help. Micador shows our care by ways of donations, how we create our products or how people experience Micador in the community. 

“Caring for our community is something we've always done, and we haven't really done it strategically, I think we're drawn to it... We get involved where we see an opportunity to come in and look after people.” says Owner and Managing Director, Ben Dortimer. 

“During the pandemic, we knew things were difficult, we knew people were locked down, we were all feeling it,” he continues. 

Micador has done a lot of research into mental health and found there’s a really strong link between getting better at something, or trying to master something, and feeling better about yourself. Having a belief in what you can do can help people start thinking of the positives. We looked into how that might work with art and drawing and we had a lot of great activity packs, so we put a call out on our social media that if anyone needed art products and couldn’t afford it, we’d send products, packs and activity books out to families across Australia. It was a small, but hopefully significant way that we could help how people were feeling. 

During the 2019-2020 bushfires in Victoria, schools were burned to the ground and we knew that kids wanted to learn, so we created 50 packs of art materials we called Art Room Rescue Packs. We sent these packs, valued at over $1,000 each, out for free all across Australia, in hope that it could help those who lost so much.  

Mirabel Foundation 

Micador has been involved with the Mirabel Foundation for over 20 years, donating products to children who have been abandoned due to parental illicit drug use. The products are used in grief therapy, where children who may not necessarily be able to talk about what had happened, can draw it and then talk about their drawings. Art is used as a way for children to express themselves and it’s important for them to have a creative outlet to tell their story or to convey their feelings.  

“Mirabel is so focused on giving these kids hope and building these communities and relationships and that’s really important to us too,” says Owner and Managing Director, Ben Dortimer.  

In addition to product donations, Micador is proud to donate $5 from every online order to the Mirabel Foundation. It started small, but Micador is now heavily involved in the Mirabel Foundation, as is Ben personally; he has been the Chairman of Mirabel since 2014. 

M.SHIELD 

In 2021, as the world was in the grips of the pandemic, Micador developed an antibacterial range called M.SHIELD Antibacterial. Products marked with the M.SHIELD have safe, disinfectant additives proven to kill bacteria including Staphylococcus and E. coli. They are designed to offer peace of mind, keeping people safe from common germs, especially in the classroom. Tests are conducted by accredited, independent laboratories, to ensure they exceed our strict requirements, and we are now leading the market in Australia for antibacterial products.  

It’s important to Micador to be the spark, to stay true to the values and DNA that sets us apart. By doing this, we hope to inspire and be aspirational to other companies to follow our lead.  

We hope by sharing these stories, that Australia can get behind us and be as proud and excited as we are about the journey we are on to become the most caring brand.