OUR MISSION

Founded in Singapore in 2013, GTCL is a sustainable wellness company that aims to promote and preserve bio-diversity in ecosystems of lesser-known tropical produce.

In the process, we are helping to improve the health of our consumers, as well as the livelihoods of the farmers we work with.

OUR MISSION

With a focus on stingless Trigona bees, we support the education of farmers to keep these tiny bees for crop pollination, moving them towards organic farming and thereby benefiting from the resulting increase in crop yields across endemic varieties. With more bee colonies, we are able to provide their prized honey commercially.

OUR MISSION

Our range of products include Trigona bee-pollinated crops such as activated pili nuts, medicinal Trigona bee honey, all-natural skincare and other wellness products.

Help us help others. Find out more about Tropical Biodiversity.

OUR STORY

Our Search for Better Health
and Stress-Free Living

GTCL was founded by two entrepreneurs from Singapore, both with a passion for clean eating and conscious living.

After years of working in high-pressure corporate environments in Singapore and the United States, the two yearned for a less-stressful lifestyle, as well as an alternative to mindless - and often unhealthy - consumption.

The impetus to form GTCL came after a serious illness struck a family member.

OUR STORY

Our Search for Better Health
and Stress-Free Living

Initially we were interested in food that was potentially healing for the terminally sick. The more we researched, the more we came to learn about the nutrition density of different foods, how they were grown and processed, and ultimately, how modern food preparation methods often introduced disease-forming elements, or robbed our food of nutrients.

OUR STORY

Our Search for Better Health
and Stress-Free Living

The call of clean eating and conscious consumption couldn’t be ignored. We chose to eat more fresh and organic food, introducing our cancer-stricken dad to nourishment that was also naturally healing.

While the change in diet did not aim to replace medicine and hospital treatments, it did help our dad spend a few more comfortable years with his family, surpassing his doctor’s predicted life expectancy.

OUR STORY

Our Search for Better Health
and Stress-Free Living

The benefits of our new lifestyle also became apparent as we experienced improvements in our own health: skin allergies disappeared, bodies became leaner and stronger, we became less prone to common colds, and energy levels were much improved.

Soon after, the reparative and healing qualities of food made us think more about its powers to prevent illness.

OUR STORY

Our Search for Better Health
and Stress-Free Living

We were also very keen to discover and develop health food that had gourmet tastes and textures, in contrast to the bland, and cardboard-like mouth feel associated with most commercially prepared health food products.

During a visit to the Philippines, we came to discover the strong immunity properties of Trigona stingless bee honey and the rich magnesium content of the buttery pili nut. The products’ naturally delicious flavours were a pleasant bonus.

OUR STORY

Our Search for Better Health
and Stress-Free Living

After a chat with the local growers on the challenges of growing pili and raising stingless bees in their delicate ecosystems, our eureka moment was finally crystalized.

We went home with a mission to introduce the world to lesser-known food that was healing, nutrient-dense, delicious, and more importantly, give back to the communities and the land they were grown.

OUR STORY

Our Search for Better Health
and Stress-Free Living

Today, we continue to share in the legacy of protecting endemic plant species for health purposes, while concocting fresh new flavours for our gourmet superfoods.

This fulfills our dad’s wish and advice - that we live out the rest of our lives healthy and happy by taking a “huge bite out of life”, and by savouring all its delicious gifts.

WHY SUPPORT TROPICAL BIODIVERSITY?

What is Tropical Biodiversity?

Tropical biodiversity, also called the ‘latitudinal gradient of species diversity,’ refers to the rich concentration of the planets’ flora and fauna in the equatorial belt. Here, under the sun’s most direct rays and with abundant rainfall and moisture, lush, complex, and species-diverse ecosystems thrive.

“Tropical habitats represent an important component in all of Earth's life diversity, because a great part of the 34 biodiversity hotspots (areas of high numbers of endemic species) are tropical ecosystems.”

Source: Origins and Maintenance of Tropical Biodiversity (https://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/C20/E6-142-TE-20.pdf )

WHY SUPPORT TROPICAL BIODIVERSITY?

How GTCL is helping.

Conservation and sustainability efforts for endangered or rare ingredients such as elemi, which is already on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species*.
Encouraging organic farming and the propagation of Trigona stingless bees for cross-crop pollination. In the process, we improve farmers’ livelihoods by helping them avoid debt traps created by buyers of produce who lend them funds for chemical pesticides just to increase production volumes for some of these goods.
Helping fund: further education in sustainable farming operations, provision of more bees, as well as investing in new equipment, and training, when necessary.

Lastly, by creating awareness around the benefits of these natural superfoods and healing skincare, we are encouraging more and more farmers to grow them, thereby protecting the endemic plants.

WHY SUPPORT TROPICAL BIODIVERSITY?

Why should you care?

As our world hurtles towards modernisation, precious “life hotspots” such as tropical rainforests are in danger of disappearing, and with them, the potential to discover and harness more of nature’s healing and nutritious produce.

Tropical deforestation and forest denudation are real threats, even when they provide benefits to humans in the short term.

Social conflict
Reduction of species diversity
Extinction of animals and plants, especially those that are endemic to the tropics
Global climate change

Think about it: for every square meter of rainforest we remove --- especially for using harmful farming practices -- we eradicate the potential to discovering the cure for cancer, obesity or the common flu.

WHY SUPPORT TROPICAL BIODIVERSITY?

How you can help.

You help support the cause for tropical bio-diversity when you buy GTCL’s all-natural products (and other similar brands that are sustainably sourced in tropical habitats).

Help us spread the word by promoting our posts on #TropicalBioDiversity, #CleanEating, #ConsciousLiving and #CleanBeauty on your own social channels, or by simply talking about them with your friends.

Support Tropical Biodiversity.

OUR ADOPTED COMMUNITIES

The Kiwot Bee Keepers:
Dedicated Champions of the Fragile Bee Ecosystem.

Before the discovery of their healing honey and their pollinating power, the tiny Trigona stingless bees of Bohol (or ‘kiwot’ as locally known) were thought of as pests. After all, they were as small as flies, they did not sting, and were constantly ‘feasting’ on all the crops. Also, their hives did not look anything like the usual bee hives.

So the farmers got rid of them, often using pesticides to eliminate the bees and other crop ‘bugs.’ Little did the growers realise that the bees were nature’s miracle workers – pollinating and cultivating more crops, as well as producing among the world’s best honey.

Fortunately, through the efforts of GTCL and other companies focused on sustainable farming, these independent and small community farmers are now encouraged to keep the bees and cultivate the bee-pollinated crops.

OUR ADOPTED COMMUNITIES

In addition, they are educated about the long term positive effects of organic farming (tropical biodiversity, among others) versus a prior dependence on pesticides.

But this entails much sacrifice on their end. Often these kiwot keepers forgo the quicker returns from the shorter growing periods afforded by pesticide-assisted farming. It takes them a longer time to realise profits from these crops, and more patience and dedication to grow bees with a naturally delicate ecosystems.

This is why GTCL is committed to support these unsung heroes.

We help them by funding educational drives, equipment purchases, process training and the purchase of more raw materials needed for rearing bees.

OUR ADOPTED COMMUNITIES

By encouraging them to opt for organic farming, we are also helping them to end the cycle of poverty set up by traders who lend them money for buying pesticides in exchange for produce with little to no markup left for the farmers.

More Trigona bees also means more cross-pollinated and healthier crops, which can only help preserve tropical biodiversity, and provide more varied ways for the community to earn from their crops.

Additionally, we are also engaging communities of women to help in pili processing, after their husbands or sons are done growing and cracking them out of their hard shells.

Support our communities.

WALK THE TALK