What do a French beauty product, dangerous war zones, and the Wai 262 claim have in common? To find out the answer, Jasmine Kaa spoke to Denis Watson, the founder and CEO of an innovative and rapidly expanding mänuka honey company.
Watson & Son is a company specialising in the production of premium mänuka honey. With it’s head office based in the Wairarapa and sub-branches in Muriwhenua and Southland, the company has over fourteen thousand beehives situated in some of the most remote mono-floral mänuka areas of Aotearoa.
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Key quote from this article:
“The company has also developed skincare concepts for major cosmetic and nutraceutical applications that have attracted the interest of French-based beauty leader L’Oréal. L’Oréal markets over 23 global brands in more than 130 countries and had a sales turnover in 2008 of EUR17.5 billion. Watson says this could potentially present an excellent opportunity for Mäori mänuka honey beekeepers.”
“The kaupapa of transforming the economics of Mäori land, creating employment and researching the medicinal properties of mänuka rongoä lies at the heart of the company’s activities. Another important kaupapa Watson says drives the company is the Wai 262 claim in respect of mätauranga Mäori.”
“The bottom line for me is that Mäori own most of the resource even if it’s under Crown Guardianship. The resource is still owned by Mäori and people who tie back to those areas should have first access to them like kaimoana. Mäori should be able to exercise sovereignty over their whenua and rongoä.”
Manuka Honey is a great natural healer that everyone should know about.