Jemma Westing is the founder of Jem’s Bees, a small independent beekeeping business based on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border in the UK. Her story is one of personal recovery turning into purposeful enterprise. After experiencing Long Covid, she found that working outdoors with bees offered both physical and mental benefits that a conventional desk job could not match. In 2020 she made the decision to leave full-time computer-based work and start her own small company focused on responsible, low-impact beekeeping.
Jem’s Bees centres on careful management of honeybee colonies. Westing produces and sells natural honeybee products, handmade items, and small-batch goods. These are available through her online shop and at local events. The range includes honey and other hive products, as well as items made with beeswax. She also creates custom honey miniatures suitable for gifts and business use, and offers overwintered nucleus colonies to other beekeepers by application. In addition to sales, she provides practical support such as swarm collection and runs educational talks aimed at helping amateur beekeepers get started.
A core philosophy of the business is reuse, recycling and minimising waste. Westing has described how she deliberately works with what is available, repurposing materials wherever possible. This approach keeps costs down and reduces the environmental footprint of the operation. She draws on earlier experience in design, recycling and publishing to shape both the products and the brand. The result is a diverse offering that includes both edible and non-edible items, giving the business resilience when honey harvests are lighter than expected.
The business has received recognition for its approach and quality. Jem’s Bees won gold at the 2024 Cambridgeshire SME Business Awards and was named Lone Wolf Business of the Year at the 2024 Business Awards UK. These awards highlight both the quality of the products and the individual determination behind the company. Westing has spoken about the importance of working to one’s strengths and offering a clear point of difference. In a market where many brands talk about sustainability, she focuses on practical, everyday low-impact practices rather than large-scale claims.
Looking ahead, Westing has said her priority is to grow the business carefully and sustainably. A key focus for the coming years is supporting new hobbyist beekeepers by supplying healthy, strong nucleus colonies. This aligns with her broader interest in education and encouraging more people to engage with bees in a responsible way. The business remains deliberately small and hands-on. It is rooted in the daily reality of managing colonies, observing seasons, and responding to the needs of the bees rather than chasing rapid expansion.
Westing’s earlier career adds useful context. She worked as a book designer and paper engineer, creating interactive books and modelling kits for children. In 2013 she set up BrilliantBuilds, a not-for-profit initiative that ran free workshops teaching children to make things from recycled cardboard. That background in design, making and education is visible in the practical, creative and educational elements of Jem’s Bees today.
Jem’s Bees Ltd was incorporated as a private limited company in April 2022. It operates as a genuine micro-enterprise: founder-led, place-based, and focused on quality and responsibility rather than scale for its own sake. The website presents the business in straightforward terms — an independent beekeeping operation shaped by day-to-day life in the apiary, with an emphasis on seasonality, careful management and respect for the bees.
Westing’s path illustrates how a personal health challenge can lead to a new direction. The outdoor, physical nature of beekeeping provided therapeutic benefits during recovery from Long Covid. That experience became the foundation for a small business that combines practical skill, environmental awareness and community education. By keeping the operation small and grounded in reuse and careful husbandry, she has built something that feels authentic to both the place and the founder.
In a landscape often dominated by larger commercial beekeeping or heavily marketed “sustainable” brands, Jem’s Bees stands out for its modest scale and clear personal values. It shows that a viable small business can be built around attentive animal husbandry, local sales, education and a commitment to using resources thoughtfully. For Westing, the bees remain at the centre of the work, and the business grows only in ways that support their health and the founder’s own capacity to care for them properly.
Personal and business links
- Official website: https://www.jemsbees.co.uk/
- Small Business UK profile (2024): https://smallbusiness.co.uk/small-business-heroes-intro-2593853/ (section on Jem’s Bees – Jemma Westing)
- Companies House record (Jem’s Bees Ltd, company number 14072226): searchable via Companies House or directories such as https://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/jems-bees
