Andes Bee empowers Chilean rural beekeepers by increasing their income and preserving beekeeping heritage while enhancing local biodiversity
Chile has a longstanding tradition of beekeeping. Today, the practice continues to play a significant role in the country’s farming communities, where approximately 9,000 individuals rely on beekeeping as their primary source of income. Bees are also essential to the pollination of crops, enhancing farmers’ productivity while protecting local biodiversity.
Founded in 2017, Andes Bee is a Chilean enterprise born from the need to create more ways for beekeepers to get their products to the market and raise awareness of the unique properties of honey produced in the Andes region. Building upon three generations of beekeeping tradition, Andes Bee sources sustainable honey and bee products from small scale beekeepers, paying them fair prices while promoting and advancing their work.
Beekeepers that form part of the Andes Bee network come from rural or semi-rural areas where resources and essential services are limited and access to formal training is scarce. By equipping its suppliers with valuable technical knowledge to improve the quality of their honey, Andes Bee has increased its suppliers’ income by 35–45% and empowered these communities to thrive.
The enterprise also strives to celebrate and preserve Chile’s rich beekeeping heritage. Its premium line of honey and bee products showcases honey’s natural properties—renowned for its antibacterial, antioxidant, and prebiotic properties—and allows customers to trace products back to the beekeepers who produced them.
Through strategic partnerships, Andes Bee has successfully positioned its products in markets in Chile and Europe while supporting local beekeeping communities to expand their production capacity from 250 to 2,000 beehives to meet client demands.
Programme support
With the support of NESsT and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, Andes Bee aims to strengthen Chile’s beekeeping value chain by expanding marketing opportunities, developing products for other bee products, such as propolis, and reinforcing its technical support to its suppliers.
In 2024, Andes Bee will take its commitment to supporting small beekeepers to the next level. It will launch a tailored supplier development program for those with 75 to 350 beehives. This year-long program will cover topics such as beekeeping management and best practices, supplier registration and certification, and product traceability through QR labelling. These initiatives will ensure that local beekeepers can make a smooth transition into the global marketplace, further expanding Andes Bee’s reach and impact.
Andes Bee has solidified its market position by prioritising social responsibility, strategic partnerships, sustainable growth, and high-quality products, and we look forward to supporting them expand their business and impact.