There's nothing like the sweet taste of honey - and Hannah and Rory O'Brien know that better than anyone else.
Since 2016, the pair have been producing, sourcing, and processing some of the rarest honeys in the world from hard to reach places in our untouched native forests, through their award-winning ethical and sustainable impact enterprise, Hunt and Gather Bee Co.
Hannah is currently participating in our entrepreneurial accelerator, Accelerate Regional - and recently, we chatted about her experience in the programme, and journey as an impact entrepreneur.
From the outside, it may seem like Hunt and Gather is simply creating raw (and delicious) honey.
In reality, their business goes so much deeper than that - they're also protecting our honey bee population, and increasing reforestation and biodiversity in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Driven by their desire to set a good example for our children, they've also made a powerful commitment to sustainability.
Being able to create this positive impact has been the pairs favourite part of their journey in the impact space to date - as well as producing an incredible product, and meeting like-minded people.
Although Hannah has only just begun Accelerate Regional journey, she's looking forward to using her learnings to accelerate the impact Hunt and Gather creates.
"We have just begun Accelerate Regional, but so far we have been over our marketing and export strategies and looked for areas that need refining and how we can plan ahead for growth. We are hoping to build some strategies that will help our business become more profitable so that we can reinvest that profit back into our biodiversity projects".
When we asked Hannah to tell us her number one piece of advice for aspiring impact entrepreneurs, she responded "know your why, what is your purpose? And what impact do you want to have?"
Having just taken out a Silver medal for their Kānuka honey at one of the worlds most prestigious honey awards - the London International Honey awards, Hannah certainly knows a thing or two about finding success in business, and the role a sense of purpose can play in that.
Looking ahead, Hunt and Gather will soon launch their first international range - Special Harvest, and they're hoping the award will help open some doors and build trade relationships overseas. They're also looking for distribution and retail partners in the gourmet grocery sector.
We've loved getting to know this inspirational duo - and will be cheering them on every step of the way!
If you'd like to accelerate your own impact, check out our range of programmes.
