The woman-owned social enterprise’s line of forest honey products spell sweet success
for its people, the planet, and prosperity, showing there is a better way to do business with bees
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2023 — African Bronze, a Canadian, woman-owned food-ceutical social enterprise, is transforming the world of business, food, and wellness with the help of nearly 10,000 beekeepers in Zambia and Tanzania. Its one-of-a-kind line of forest honey products introduces a new gold standard for this millennia-old ingredient, while proving there is a better way to do business.
During the annual Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas, Nevada happening from January 15 to 17, African Bronze will open the specialty food industry’s eyes to a new game-changing food-ceutical, a unique line of forest honey products. Show attendees are invited to visit African Bronze at Booth #3424 inside the Last Vegas Convention Center during the show.
The one thing that does everything
Forest honey has significant antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties along with rich and robust, exotic flavours. Lab research shows that African Bronze’s forest honey contains two times the antioxidants of the popular Manuka honey, and up to five times that of conventionally farmed honey.
Its forest honey is gathered by nearly 10,000 forest beekeepers using regenerative methods. It is certified organic and comes from wild African forest bees that live in some of the world’s last surviving pristine, untouched, and undisturbed forests. This makes the brand a true gift of, and from, Mother Nature.
The unique floral taste of African Bronze’s forest honey comes from the thousands of flowering plants and trees in the Miombo woodlands, and from honeydew, a sugary liquid (like nectar) derived from tree sap. Forest insects produce honeydew, a nutrient-rich concentrated nectar, that bees ‘steal’ whenever they find it. It is what makes forest honey so remarkably different from processed honey. Not only is it different from other honeys, it is simply better — for health, the planet, and people. There is no other honey like it in the world and African Bronze has made it readily available as consumer packaged products, and as a bulk superfood ingredient for food, beverage, and health and beauty manufacturers.
“Our honey is organic, raw, unpasteurized, and harvested with immense care and respect for the Earth,” said Liz Connell, Co-founder and President, African Bronze. “Many people and companies only see honey as a natural sweetener, but our forest honey is so much more than that, it is medicine. Our honey is nutrient-rich, boasts double the antioxidants of Manuka honey, offers antibacterial properties, polyphenols, bioflavonoids, and minerals. We are a ‘food-ceutical’ company. Our product is food that heals.”
A better way to do business with bees
The United Nations believes that beekeeping has the potential to change the economic course of history for the continent of Africa. African Bronze is committed to helping make that happen, leading the way by showing that the region can produce world-class foods that can compete on the global stage.
“Ten years ago, we started out selling bottles of honey,” said Paul Whitney, Co-Founder and Managing Director, African Bronze. “Today, we have a healthy, delicious, exportable ’foundation food’ packed and shipped at commercial scale to Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) standards. Our products are produced by marginalized Africans from some of the most remote places on the planet at a competitive price. That is remarkable!”
African Bronze is deeply committed to demonstrating regenerative business, showing that businesses can be successful and profitable while leaving the world a better place
“The beekeeping projects we support regenerate diminished forests, offset hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon annually, and inject millions of dollars into marginalized communities, all while making a profit,” said Whitney. “Now, more than ever, the world needs empathetic leaders to challenge and change the status quo. Doing business with respect and empathy for the planet and for people creates a win-win for everyone involved and is a more sustainable way to build. We would argue it is the only way we should.”
Setting a new gold standard for honey and business
African Bronze is a proud certified B Corp, Certified Organic by Ecocert, a Member of the Fair-Trade Federation, a Canadian Food Agency Registered Honey Processing Facility, and is moving towards being fully plastic free.
Bees play a vital role in preserving the health and wellbeing of our planet. They pollinate our fruit, vegetables, plants, and trees. This is why African Bronze supports honey production that comes from healthy bees that are never exposed to pesticides or chemicals. It is a way to improve plants, trees, wild animal populations, protect water resources, help combat climate change, and create sustainable incomes, while giving customers a healthier alternative at an affordable price.
Food production is not sustainable if the production methods cause damage. Many modern agricultural practices are the root cause of the collapse of bee populations. The pervasive use of pesticides (neonicintoids) is killing bees. At best, these chemicals weaken the bees so greatly that the hive is unable to defend itself from parasites and other pests. It is believed that bees are attracted to the pesticide (potentially the nicotine) and the levels are high enough to destroy the homing instincts of the bees. They go out to gather nectar, and the pesticides disorient them enough that they can no longer find their way back to the hive.
African Bronze was born from a mission to preserve and protect Mother Nature and create opportunities for economic prosperity for beekeepers in Zambia and Tanzania. Both founders lived in Zimbabwe for eight years when they met a Zambian-Canadian ecopreneur named Dan, who later started working with a group of local beekeepers to help stop the deforestation of one of the last pristine forests in Africa. Dan and his team of beekeepers began training more beekeepers and harvesting forest honey from wild African bees, sustainably reared in traditionally made hives comprised of renewable forest resources — hollow logs and sustainably harvested bark.
Today, African Bronze works with several African forest honey projects and, together, they employ more than 10,000 local beekeepers by marketing its unparalleled organic honey to consumers, retailers, food and beverage manufacturers, and wellness companies throughout North America.
Forest honey is renowned throughout the continent as the healthiest and most delicious of any food. But forest honey isn’t just African, it comes from forests across the world.
“Many of these forests are under intense pressure,” said Whitney. “Deforestation is rampant due to mining, commercial agriculture, and logging. The frequently marginalized local people do not have alternative income sources to combat this. Thanks to the forest honey projects of our African beekeeping partners and dozens of other forest honey initiatives, there is an opportunity to create an alternative to deforestation and help combat climate change with forest beekeeping, while producing a product that supports optimal health.”
“Realizing that this amazing honey was virtually unknown in North America and much of the globe, we were motivated to tell our story and introduce this astonishingly delicious, healthy, raw, wild, sustainably harvested honey to the world,” said Connell.
African Bronze honey products are available online at www.africanbronzehoney.com.
To learn more about how African Bronze is raising the gold standard of business and food, please visit the links below.
Website: www.africanbronzehoney.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/africanbhoney
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/africanbhoney
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@africanbronzehoneycompany3837
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/africanbhoney/
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About African Bronze
Our brand, African Bronze, is the product and our company. It tells the story of how one person can inspire tens of thousands to create sustainable income while protecting and improving the vast wilderness and forest areas of Africa. We pack a very big story into every little bottle.
We are a Canadian, B Corp (Best for the World, three years in a row) social enterprise business that imports, exports, markets, sells, and value-adds container loads of the most delicious, healthy honey on the planet —forest honey from African wilderness areas and national parks.
Our one-of-a-kind line of forest honey products are ushering in a new gold standard for this millennia-old ingredient, while proving that there is a better way to do business. Our honey is remarkably different from processed honey — it is so much more than a sweeter, it is food that is medicine. That is why we tout our product as a “food-ceutical” and why we do not sell our honey in little bears. We sell real honey, the way it was produced for millennia. Wild, raw, and completely natural.
Welcome to the golden age of honey.