A sweet deal

Mithun Stephen was on a scenic trek with his wife Ramya Sundaram in Dandeli when they first came across honey that totally transformed their perspective. He says, “During the trek, we interacted with a lot of tribals and tasted some of the goodies that they made. But what opened our eyes was the honey which had a very complex flavour profile.” Mithun, who is originally from Chennai, shares that his biggest motivation was the fact that through this start-up, tribals are assured a steady livelihood.

Talking about the different kinds of honey, he elaborates, “We are all used to farm-harvested honey. But the forest-harvested one, which has more medicinal value and less human intervention, is the better kind.” He says that the kind of honey that they sell varies in terms of flavour and texture every time. Before becoming a full-time entrepreneur, Mithun was a freelance programmer who worked for a number of start-ups.

He shares that the biggest obstacles that they faced was to get people to understand the difference in their honey. “We were tasked with debunking various myths people had about honey, why the honey tasted different every time, etc,” he recalls. Mithun visited a number of farmer/flea markets to put their organic honey on the map.

Mithun, who completed his engineering from St Joseph’s College of Engineering in Chennai, works with a number of NGO and tribals personally to source the honey. He shares, “This start-up has given the tribals a steady income, thereby empowering them. Since we deal with them personally, we procure the honey at a much higher rate. Therefore, for 250 gms, the cost is anywhere from Rs 250 to Rs 295.” He is also working towards make the entire process more sustainable.

“We are training the tribals with sustainable methods of honey harvesting,” says the avid trekker whose explorations of the forest brought him to this fulfilling passion project.