Who We Are
The Smile Happy Story
Before starting our honey business, we had a small orange fruit farm in the village of Maymyo Township. We travelled to the farm frequently to manage the farmers and workers. Sometimes, we would see villagers selling the local honey. It was delicious, and full of health benefits.
Coincidentally, one of our foreign buyers asked us about Myanmar honey. We sent them a sample. At that time, Myanmar honey exports were very small, only 200-250 tons/year. We believed there was a market for it that could also create opportunities for Myanmar people.
We started production with five beekeepers and a small number of hives in an apiary. We had a lot of difficulties in quality control and technical issues. We developed a plan to support beekeepers financially and technically to harvest quality honey and increase productivity.
With hard work and time, we improved in quality and productivity. Our original beekeepers who each had only 50–100 hives per apiary improved production up to 1,500–2,000 hives/apiary.
Today, we export 1,500–2,000 tons/year of Myanmar honey. We work over 100 beekeepers and have become a leading exporter of quality Myanmar honey.
Smile Happy’s objectives are supporting rural development and improving the life of rural people. We continue to collaborate and cooperate with international organizations for beekeeping techniques and training. We want to make a plan for sustainable rural development.
Developing the Myanmar Honey Industry
Together with the Myanmar Apiculture Association (MAA) and government authorities, we provide training, techniques and guidelines to beekeepers and honey collectors.
In 2018–2019, GIZ (German development agency) provided support training for the Myanmar honey sector, including a honey sector professional to train beekeepers, collectors, and exporters.
The ITC Arise Plus project has also supported the agricultural sector in Myanmar since 2019. The helped us with HACCP training to gain our certification
Beekeepers and honey collectors receive good beekeeping practices and good collecting practices on hygiene, quality control and productivity. Processors and exporters receive training on market readiness and marketing and branding guidelines, seminars and workshops, opportunities to attend international exhibitions and trade shows.
Smile Happy’s overall goal is to expand the Myanmar honey market globally, support the lives of beekeepers and develop our rural areas.
Getting fair prices internationally for our beekeepers is a priority. By connecting with potential buyers around the world, our company can be part of our rural development, empowering youth, and women in Myanmar.
Smile Happy Co. Ltd. collaborates with more than 100 beekeepers around Myanmar. We support them with:
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Financial support – to cover beekeeping control equipment, medicines, logistics, administration costs, etc.
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Training – we train our beekeepers in modern beekeeping practices, with the guidance and help of MAA and international organizations. We organize professional consultations on productivity and income diversification
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Fair trade – we pay fair prices to our beekeepers
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Regular income – they can send their children to the school and improve living standards
​Staff And Wellbeing
Our company has 30 employees: 10 women and the rest youth. Most are young, active, and energetic. Our administration, accounting, and marketing employees are mostly women. We care for our staff. Some come from rural areas and come to Yangon for life goals and development. We provide hostels for their living for more convenience.
Our bottled honey brand is I M Honey. This name represents both a special product and a living organism. Imagine that each bottle is saying, “I am Honey”.
Working with our values and beliefs, alongside our customers, stakeholders, employees, and businesses makes us feel safe, happy, and full of smiles. That’s why we chose our business name – Smile Happy Co. Ltd.