We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Makuyo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Makuyo, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

Creating SIIKA Herb + Honey Co. when I did was perfect timing. I actually had a couple of businesses before SIIKA, both health and wellness based. My first business, my brand was all over the place. It was during the first one that I happened to meet a business mentor who took one look at my product offerings, paused, then told me, “You’re selling everything except socks.” It was just like my mind, all over the place. He helped me to niche down, as well as do market research in determining my Most Valuable Product and to the direction my business should go. The next business was cool, it was profitable, but something just didn’t settle in right with my Spirit.
So, it was on a trip to Ghana in 2021 that the concept behind SIIKA came to me. I was walking in the market one day and saw a glass jar of infused honey. I kept walking, but something called me back. I took a picture of the jar to figure out what my intuition was trying to show me. During that trip to Ghana, I felt restored being able to take the time away from the constant “Go!” of life. I found that reconnecting to myself (and to nature) was exactly what I needed. I set to work to find a way to infuse this sweetness into my daily life in a way that complimented my other responsibilities.
From that point on, through a series of dreams and tweaking the ingredients from the dreams, SIIKA herb and honey infusions were created.
Now, before that Ghana trip, I had a dream and the name “SIIKA” came to me, I didn’t know what it was for, but I wrote it down anyway. Well, ‘sika’ in the Ga language (my paternal language) means ‘extreme beauty or riches’, it is also a term to describe wealth. And just like in the saying, “a land flowing with milk and honey”, across cultures honey symbolizes fertility and femininity; attraction and abundance; and also symbolizes prosperity. So, it was so fitting and divine to name my brand SIIKA Herb + Honey Co.
I learned many lessons with my two previous businesses. I learned about niching down, marketing, and creating a brand, not just a business. I also learned how to trust myself. This trust is what led me to create SIIKA based off dreams and intuition.
Creating SIIKA any earlier would have been like my other business, a bit detached and all over the place. Creating it any later would have been pure procrastination. SIIKA Herb + Honey Co. was created right on time.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m Makuyo, creator of SIIKA Herb + Honey Co. Makuyo is a traditional Krobo name and I named the four SIIKA herb-infused honey’s in honor of my family matriarchs: my mother, my paternal and maternal grandmothers, and my maternal great-grandmother. I can trace working with plants and herbs directly through these women.

I am also a Senior Systems Engineer with over 15 years experience in corporate America – not counting the combined six years of schooling to obtain my degrees. So, as a feminine woman in a career field and world dominated by the masculine, I know it can be a struggle to maintain harmony – not balance- between these energies, both personally and professionally.
One of the best ways for me to do so and maintain the connection to my true self is to return to the teachings of my matriarchs and connect with nature through working with plants and herbs.

“Sika” translates to ‘wealth, luxury or riches’ in the Ga language. I chose the name SIIKA as an homage to wealth in terms of culture, tradition and self-. Through their sweet, attractive, and healing qualities, the use of raw honey and organic herbs intrinsically honors the connection to both femininity and to nature.
Uniting the two: the feminine and nature, SIIKA herb and honey infusions are an invitation to experience the more sensual side of life and to find joy in the moment. Our motto is, “Healing Can Be So Sweet”, as SIIKA Herb + Honey Co. aims to remind our consumers that healing can be found in our self-care routines, in taking a break from the demands of the day and embracing the goodness of nature.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

For ecommerce, I exclusively sell on my website at siikaherbandhoney.com. I am big on branding and want to create an intentional experience for my customers. While the exposure in doing so is significantly less, I find that when selling on larger websites, the brand identity and uniqueness gets lost amongst similar products. Quality is often compromised for lower pricing. For instance, I infuse SIIKA honeys with raw, unfiltered honey and real herbs and spices. Most other infused honeys are made with highly processed honey and infused with flavor oils, which gives them a lower cost per item. One wouldn’t see that distinction in regurgitated search results. In addition, there is no ownership on other sites. If they choose to change requirements, or policies which harm business owners, we would be left at their mercy, with no way to contact customers served from those sites.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

My business model creates revenue from multiple revenue streams, including SIIKA Herb + Honey Co. I have a beauty and wellness blog site, withlovemakuyo.com, which generates revenue from pointing to SIIKA Herb + Honey Co. website, advertisements, and affiliate marketing. So, SIIKA is one of the revenue sources.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://siikaherbandhoney.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siikaherbandhoneyco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/siikaherbandhoneyco
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makuyo
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/siikaherbandhoneyco/ https://www.tiktok.com/@siikaherbandhoneyco https://www.withlovemakuyo.com/

Image Credits
Paige Hendricks, Christopher Wells, Alex Bailey