Oils ain’t oils for award-winning entrepreneurs

Alex de Vos
Whether petrochemical or home-grown oil, local entrepreneur Joan McGovern is an expert in both.
But this week all eyes were on her Camilo Enterprises, which makes boutique, premium olive oil fresh at the McGovern family’s grove in Teesdale.
On Monday the Shell executive and Camilo Enterprises managing director won Royal Melbourne Show’s prestigious Victorian Trophy for her extra virgin olive oil.
Ms McGovern was “very excited” with the win.
“It’s hugely satisfying after putting in an enormous amount of time and financial investment,” Ms McGovern said.
“It means greater recognition and hopefully more sales.”
In 2002 Ms McGovern and daughter Anne Rathjen formed Camilo Enterprises.
Inspired by a friend, the pair began growing and harvesting olives.
“It’s a funny thing growing and producing beautiful olive oil and working for a multi-national oil company,” Ms McGovern acknowledged.
Watching their olives grow into award-winning fruit was, like their oil, bittersweet, she said.
“We had a lot of problems in the first four years – the trees really struggled and our irrigation system wasn’t working,” Ms McGovern admitted.
“But now you can hear the trees whistling – they’ve really flourished.”
Ms McGovern praised her oil for its combination of “aroma, fruit, bitterness and pepper”.
“Olive oil should be nicely balanced, with lovely fruit on the palate – it’s a bit like wine,” she said.
“The benefits of having our oils in the show is you can understand where your oils are great or where you can improve your product.”
Camilo Enterprises produces a range of products including moisturiser and flavour-infused extra virgin olive oil.
“We’ve just starting exporting to Japan,” Ms McGovern said.
“My daughter came back with comments from people who were blown away by the taste and smell.”