Honey Care Africa Launches Products in U.S. Market

New York, September 7th 2006 –

Honey Care Africa and Nature’s Cradle Foods have successfully launched an exotic range of fair trade honey products in the U.S. market. First commercial sales of Honey Care’s African Blossom, Highland Blend, Acacia and Wild Comb commenced in late August and have received positive reviews from store owners and consumers alike.

The honey, which is produced by thousands of small-holder farmers in East Africa, is now available at Delicious Orchards, New Jersey, Nature's Cradle’s direct retail outlet in New York, and Choice Bagel, a gourmet deli in Eastchester, New York. Over the coming weeks, the products will be available more widely in a number of other outlets across the Eastern U.S.

Honey Care Africa was established in 2000 as a social enterprise to promote local economic development through community-based beekeeping across East Africa. With assistance from many partners including the International Finance Corporation and World Bank, Honey Care has helped more than 9,000 rural beekeepers (over 40% women) earn a supplementary income of US$ 180-250 per annum – often the difference between living below or above the poverty line. Today, Honey Care Africa is a successful fair trade venture employing 50 full-time staff and is the region’s largest producer of high quality honey. It has received a number of international awards for contributing to poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation, including the UNDP Equator Initiative Prize, the Prince of Wales World Business Award and the World Bank International Development Marketplace Award. At the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005, it was recognised as among the world’s most outstanding social enterprises.

IFC’s Grassroots Business Initiative is assisting Honey Care to strengthen its business in Kenya, and replicate its operations in Tanzania. GBI’s technical assistance grant and patient capital is being utilized for market expansion and product development, improvement of processing and packaging, strengthening management and monitoring capability, and institutionalizing extension services.

Nature's Cradle is a recently established U.S. based enterprise that focuses on distributing high quality fair trade and natural food products from around the world. Patrick Gasparro, Raffi Ishkanian, and Brian Schoenbachler, the co-Founders of Nature's Cradle, felt that the best way they could support and promote poverty reduction and economic development in developing countries was through facilitating market access for their products in the U.S. Having been involved in his family's food distribution business for many years, Gasparro has considerable experience in the food distribution business. He holds an MBA from the Said Business School at Oxford, and a Bachelor's degree in Mathematical Economics from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Schoenbachler, also a United States Military Academy graduate and who worked along side Gasparro in Bosnia during the U.S. peace-keeping mission, is a logistics expert and runs a distribution company in Atlanta. Meanwhile, Raffi Ishkanian is a graduate Binghamton University in New York and brings the hands-on creativity and energy to the enterprise that is so essential in getting this new venture off-the-ground.

“It was during our tour of duty in Bosnia that Brian and I discovered first-hand the importance of supporting sustainable development,” says Gasparro. “After I visited the villages in Kenya and saw the incredible work Honey Care is doing, I knew they were the kind of organisation we should be supporting to access the vast American market.”

Among the first to carry Honey Care’s products was Bill MacDonald, owner of Delicious Orchards, a small family-run business in Colts Neck, New Jersey. “I am happy to help with such a wonderful cause,” said Mr. MacDonald as he unpacked another carton of the honey to restock the shelves.





Learn more about Honey Care Africa