Bees are in Jason Marshall’s DNA🐝

Growing up in Christchurch in the 80’s, Jason had beehives in his parents’ back garden. Later, he established hives as a hobby while working as a fast ferry driver in Auckland. Attempting to source more bees gave Jason the idea for a business, as the Mānuka “gold rush” took hold. Listing a few hives for sale on trade me brought an astonishing response and SJA Honey was born.  

 Recalling those early days in 2007 Jason says orders for hives started coming in at around 100 but quickly ramped up to 4000 a year. It was the start of New Zealand’s Mānuka honey boom, and it was full on. 

“Everybody wanted hives - corporates, investor groups, iwi - anyone who could keep a hive alive wanted bees. We thought rather than chasing the honey, let’s start a business based on the bees – if people are digging for gold, sell them shovels, right?” 

SJA Honey found a niche in the market, becoming one of the country’s first commercial suppliers of bees. 

“We were the only suppliers who could deliver the big numbers, 1000 or 2000 hives. Our breeding programme allowed us to double our own hive numbers each year on top of what we supplied the industry.”  

Farmers were given honey in return for the small amount of land required for the hives and the breeding model flourished with help from artificial insemination programmes, producing tough disease- resistant Italian queens.  

Predicting the Manuka honey rush could be in decline, Jason started looking for ways to diversify, landing on the production of table-grade honey and pollination for kiwifruit and avocado orchards.  

Last year the business placed 7000 hives in orchards around the country. 

Then came the idea for exporting bees - to Canada. No easy feat with very little information at the time on the export logistics. A half pallet was the first foray into exporting and Jason travelled with them but not without a few challenges - including the bees almost missing the plane. 

 “It took us longer than we thought to get the bees collected particularly as a storm developed in the days before departure. By the time we got to Canada I must have looked a state because I hadn’t slept - but the bees were perfect travellers!”

“I believe you can only develop your business to the point you develop yourself - if you’re not growing yourself then how can you grow your business?”  

Jason says he joined the Icehouse not only for the learning from the experts but also the learning from others particularly given the ambitious SJA team were breaking new ground in many areas. The BNZ supported his decision, providing a scholarship to subsidise the programme costs. 

“I wanted what we were doing to be critiqued. We’re still at a critical stage of growth, developing new systems and it’s exciting, but I wanted to test the plans and that’s what we’ve been able to do with the Icehouse.” 

The business has become leaner and more efficient, halving the workforce and doubling the revenue. 

“We’ve looked closely at the skills we require and what systems we could improve and that’s lifted our productivity significantly.  We’ve used the downturn to make careful, cash positive acquisitions, giving us the ability to scale up and focus on new processes and international development.  

The industry isn’t looking like a return to the gold rush days anytime soon, but Jason believes it’s at a more sustainable level – a new normal and that’s ok but there’s opportunity for a smarter sector-wide approach. 

“We have to learn to operate profitably in this environment however I do believe there is room for regulation in our industry so we can, not only improve the way we do business offshore but also control the production here at home, in a measured way, to start a shift away from this boom bust cycle the industry has been in.”