One of the UK’s leading asset funders, Close Brothers Asset Finance, has developed a unique partnership with Bee 1, a Welsh supplier of bee-focused CSR and sustainability programs for businesses and schools. 

This deal will see Close Brothers Asset Finance adopt two beehives that will live at the Bee1 farm in Neath, introducing 20,000+ bees into the ecosystem.

In addition to its own bees, Close Brothers Asset Finance will receive training, as well as their own branded honey and bee bombs to plant at employees’ homes.

Emma Jones, Marketing Director, Close Brothers Asset Finance, comments: 

To mark reaching 10k followers on LinkedIn, we chose to ‘invest' in a beehive rather than giving away prizes because with the decline of pollinators, we felt it was a more sustainable and nature-friendly option that benefits not only ourselves, but more importantly, the plants that depend on the bees for pollination.

As part of our celebrations, we will be running an internal competition to encourage our colleagues' children to name the queen bee and to submit hand drawn pictures.

We are really looking forward to receiving our first jars of honey – there is already a long list of people in the queue!

Mark Douglas, Founder and Chief Beekeeper at Bee-1, is equally as thrilled to have penned this deal: 

It's truly great to come across businesses like Close Brothers that genuinely care about the environment, their carbon footprint and our wonderful bees. This partnership is about much more than simply welcoming new bees into the world. It's about educating and training the Close Brothers workforce to help them become a truly responsible business while creating awareness of the importance of bees. We look forward to working with the team for the campaign and for many more in the future!