A commitment to people and place
Komonil began not with a business plan but with a partnership: respect for the Q’eqchi’ and Mopan Maya communities of southern Belize, and for a beekeeping tradition at risk of being lost.
Built in the field
Field operations were initiated in 2022. Women in the first villages learned to keep native stingless bees in wooden boxes rather than logs, to harvest without destroying the colony, and to sell what they produced.
The model has been built alongside the beetenders, not handed to them. When something did not work in the field, it changed. More recently the focus has moved from expansion to strengthening the model, so that each woman’s business can stand for the long term.
Where we are now
Komonil works with about 35 women across more than 20 villages, tending over 300 hives. Most of those hives hold mariola, the small native stingless bee whose honey Komonil produces today.
Bringing back the Royal Lady Bee, Melipona beecheii — the bee at the heart of the ancient Maya tradition, and now scarce — is work under way.