Geoff Johnson wants Aboriginal families to walk into a supermarket and find their language on a carton of milk.

"It will carry a lot of pride for our people to walk into one of the biggest retailers in Australia and see an Aboriginal product that's an essential," he said.

Johnson is managing director of Gimarra, a majority Aboriginal-owned dairy supply company that launches officially launched this month. Gimarra means milk in Wiradjuri. Johnson said nobody in Australia had built an Aboriginal dairy supply company before.

The idea started on a park bench. Johnson and a friend were dreaming big about business ideas. Then the lights came on for me," Johnson said. "I said, 'Hold up. No one's done dairy. Leave it with me.'"

Johnson is a Wiradjuri man of the Narrungdera clan, the group the town of Narrandera takes its name from. His great-grandmother, Caroline Bradley, came from the same Country.

Work was scarce in a small town. He finished year 11 in Wagga Wagga, then worked on road crews, in an abattoir and as a labourer. Football took him to the NSW South Coast in his early twenties.

"I used to train myself silly, because it felt like football was going to be the only thing that gave me an opportunity," he said.

After his second child was born, he took an employment role with Aboriginal organisation Habitat Personnel and spent a decade on Yuin Country recruiting and training Aboriginal workers for tier-one builders and local businesses.

"I was promoting our people to these businesses to give our mob an opportunity," he said.

In 2016 he started his own company, Marambul, a Wiradjuri word meaning good, correct and right. Its first contract was a national program mentoring Aboriginal recruits into Woolworths.

Johnson credits Uncle Stan Grant Snr with keeping Wiradjuri alive and teaches it to his sons. One, a school captain, opens his speeches in language.

Johnson's cousin, Wiradjuri artist Shelby-Rae Lyons-Kschenka of Marara Designs, designed the Gimarra logo: red and yellow arches over two small black figures.

"The arches represent two people of two different cultures and backgrounds, sitting with two children, discussing the history of each other's culture and teaching the young ones," Johnson said. "There's a lot of division across our country. I wanted my logo to represent unity."

Gimarra runs on a partnership with Nick's Foods, whose transport network reaches from Melbourne to Cairns. A Sydney dispatch centre already delivers milk to corporate offices, and Johnson is in talks with food service groups including Compass Group and mining caterer Civeo, and with the major supermarkets.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries backed Gimarra's stand at Fine Food Australia in Melbourne, where a number of companies asked about export. Johnson is working with Austrade on the next step.

"We've got to be mindful of going too big too quick," he said.

Former North Queensland Cowboys captain Jonathan Thurston has joined as ambassador and corporate relations manager, and Gimarra will back the Jonathan Thurston Academy. Once revenue builds, Johnson plans to direct a share of it to community programs through the Gimarra Foundation, using his community development background to choose where the money goes.

The launch will gather government dignitaries and the people who helped Johnson through two and a half years of work. Gimarra's milk comes from Wiradjuri, Bangarang and Dja Dja Wurrung Country.

"If I can share Gimarra across the country, it's sharing culture and giving people an opportunity to embrace that," Johnson said. "Where we've got the capacity to make change, we'll grab it with both hands."