Business Tips From A Bee Entrepreneur

I recently went one on one with Dr. Asli Tanugur Samanci, founder and CEO of BEE & YOU. BEE & YOU creates natural BEE products - Royal Jelly, Propolis, Pure Raw Honey - are antiviral and antibacterial and natural energy boosters, on sale at 3000 CVS stores nationally and on Amazon. Asli’s background is as a food scientist by background.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth? 

Asli: Following my graduation from the Food Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University as a food engineer in 1996, I worked as an R&D and quality director at one of the leading companies of the honey business. My entire work and research experience have been all about the bees and their valuable products since graduation. When I began learning more about beekeeping and their useful products, I understood that I made the right choice. Once you become close to the world of bees, you admire how they live, as each action is a purposeful activity. As much as I learned about their fascinating harmony in a hive to survive, I've become more interested in beekeeping. Consequently, I devoted myself to doing research and adding value to bee products. This requires a lot of time and attention to detail. This is a decision I had to give.  I committed my time, my energy and efforts and that was a big challenge as I had to balance my time and energy between my family, my kids, and my passion for bees and the final result of the project.

When I was working as an R&D and Quality Director, I struggled with a significant problem. I had a 5-year-old son who occasionally developed a fever condition. For that, doctors prescribed antibiotics each time this happened, causing him developing allergies for antibiotics. I desperately knocked on the door of many doctors to find a solution to this problem. None of them was helpful. The antibiotics and medicine made him sicker. After a long search, a physician told me that the only cure was to improve his immune system. So I started looking for natural ways of strengthening his immune system. Then I came across propolis and royal jelly in numerous literature I browsed. At that moment, I thought it was the most promising chance for my son's health. While I was so happy with the idea that my son would recover, I had no time to waste to get pure propolis. Since I have been in the honey industry for many years, I could contact some honey producers, and I asked them to produce propolis. Because propolis is not edible in its raw form, and it has to go through extraction for human consumption. So I developed an extraction process in the lab, and I started giving this propolis extract to my son. The result was fantastic. I was giving him the propolis extract alone and also as a mixture with honey and royal jelly every day. As a result, my son had not become sick for months.

By utilizing my experience and knowledge in bee products, I decided to produce those unique products worldwide, serving those who suffer health problems and want to improve their immunity in natural ways. But it was not easy. I was a female scientist and this search made me realize that I had to establish my own business around it as no other product in the market was in the purest form of propolis. First I am a female in a corporate man’s world, and second I did not have any idea about how to create a business from scratch. This is why it was not easy.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas? 

Asli: As I explained above, the business idea came out of a necessity to supplement my sick son with the purest form of propolis. Then, I wanted to spread the word to the other mothers, other people who were suffering from similar or other diseases that propolis could help prevent, cure or recover from. That is how the idea came to life. Thankfully, I had two supporters.

In the beginning, we founded our company as a trio together with my husband, Mr. Taylan Samanci (Agricultural Engineer), and my academic adviser Prof. Dr. Dilek Boyacioglu (Food Scientist).  So, we started producing propolis and also other bee products for the first time in Anatolia in 2013 at Istanbul Technical University Technology Development Area.  

Great ideas come from your own experiences, pain, and suffering. If you do have  a great idea that helped you or your loved ones, do not hesitate to share it with the world, eventhough you are clueless about the business side of it. Also, be resourceful, surround yourself with mentors and people who are willing to help you.My husband is my biggest supporter, and my academic adviser was a mentor.

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea? 

Asli: We began our journey as a start-up company in the technology development area of Istanbul Technical University.  We did appreciate many privileges provided to start-ups such as business training, allocation of space, and eligibility for project funds from the state resources for a specified period. However, the biggest challenge was all about our unique product, propolis.  In those days, the beekeepers did not harvest propolis from their hives as there was no market for this local product in the country. Therefore, we were supposed to develop a business model to gain their attention for producing this valuable product for us. The first time in our region, we offered contract-based agreements to the beekeepers with a purchasing warranty of their products on a fixed annual price.  It was very challenging to convince them that this model will work. In the beginning, we started organizing many seminars and giving briefings to them in various locations, and eventually, we could start with about a hundred beekeepers who would provide us good quality of propolis. This business model allows the production agreements signed directly by the beekeepers without the middlemen or distributors. Today, we are so proud that we have deals with more than 2,000 beekeepers who are very satisfied with doing business with our company, with a total of 350,000 beehives in Turkey.

Incubators are a great way to bring your business to. It helped in our case. Also, being in the academia, and staying connected to research and innovation is a must.

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level? 

Asli: The customers were only aware of certain bee products such as honey, pollen, and royal jelly. It was a great challenge to introduce propolis, of which many did not even hear what it was. Hence, we focused on using digital communication channels, gave presentations in many national and international conferences, and created interview opportunities on many TV channels. We aimed to provide scientific information about the health benefits of propolis and other valuable bee products.  Another significant challenge was to introduce raw honey without the application of any fine-filtering and heat treatment to the customers in Turkey. Because all major honey packaging companies preferred to apply pasteurization process to honey for increasing its shelf-life, we needed to tell customers why raw honey is superior to those products such as losing its pollens and decreasing health benefits. Raw honey was a new concept in the beekeeping sector in the region at the beginning of our journey.    Today, I am confident to say that our local brand BEE’O and international brand BEE&YOU are blooming! As a young company, founded in 2013, honored with 28 awards in the last six years with its innovative, natural, and healthy line of bee products, we believe that we are on the right pathway. Currently, in addition to 3500 retail outlets in the United States, BEE &YOU is also sold globally in South Korea, Germany, France, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, United Kingdom, Qatar, United Emirates, and Cyprus.

I firmly believe that our in-depth knowledge and applying scientific facts are the most significant factors in our success.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips? 

Asli: Customers and their feedback come first. We simply rely on feedback from our customers once they observe the beneficial effects when they use our products. We’re sure that they will come back and prefer our products in a tremendously competitive market in the World. Since the backbone of our company relies on science, we provide our customers with scientific research findings in beehive products. That is how we could have managed to become a family with our customers based on trust, honesty, and scientific facts. 

We run all of our operations with the ultimate goal of producing and offering healthy and nutritious bee products to our customers.  Our business system is based on many subfunctions on a daily run. Raw material supply and quality testing are crucial for us as harvesting time of bee products extends from early May to late November, depending on the regions.  It is vital to follow up with the practices of beekeepers and harvest time in the field through our apiculture experts and analyze the quality of the products. Research and development activities are carried out daily as our most significant difference relies on scientific facts and data.   

Our sales operations are divided into two functions: domestic sales and exports. Our sales function includes on-line channels and pharmacies and retailers, either locally or internationally. Furthermore, we care about being honest and sincere to our customers. Through the years we've been building our brand from scratch, we always believed in the power of truthfulness and reliability, and we targeted to keep the natural power of those products. We communicate with our customers all the time. We follow through their questions and commit to answering quickly and clearly as we value their opinions very much. Therefore, social media tools are of utmostly essential for us to communicate with our customers. 

Currently, our activities are carried out by a dedicated team of food scientists, researchers, agricultural engineers, sale team, marketing experts, and beekeepers who are deeply devoted to their mission to create nourishing and delicious products with health benefits. Using proper technology, we extract all biologically active compounds from propolis and save raw honey and royal jelly in their purest form. There are currently 100 employees on our staff, and we are Turkey's largest producer of propolis with our 35,000-sq ft facility and with our expert team.

Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level? 

Asli: I firmly believe that an effective leader should be capable of motivating others, communicating sincerely, and also giving credit to the team members while acknowledging their contributions.  The success relies on creating a working environment where the employers believe in the product and how enthusiastic the leader is.  

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders? 

Asli: At the beginning of this journey, I was somewhat discouraged. Many people said that trade is a different and challenging game, and my qualifications might not be enough to succeed. Then, some criticized my decision to leave a corporate life on a fixed salary. But I continued to advance in line with my dream. Inevitably, being an entrepreneur creates some financial and moral dilemmas. Still, they never scared me, and I never gave up even when I was in difficulty.

I believe that knowledge is essential when growing your business. I overcome most of the problems with the help of my network based on my expertise in the beekeeping area. Establishing a successful business depends on working hard and, sometimes, taking risks. I am sure that there is no reason for someone not to be successful under those conditions.

I'm a technical professional. Years later, I became an entrepreneur with all that technical background. I quickly realized that I should learn more about the sales and marketing side of the business. So, after establishing my company, I had to obtain an MBA degree and learn more detail about running a business. After I became an entrepreneur, I also realized that digital marketing is crucial when growing your business. Every information I discovered later had a cost. If I knew these things at the beginning of this journey, I would be a more planned and fast mover. But I am so happy that I studied business administration degree in spite of my busy schedule, which helped me very much to understand the business dynamics.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received? 

Asli: The best piece of advice I have ever received was from my father, who taught me that I should never quit for reaching my life goals while working hard.