let there be light

2000 1333 In Good Company | Northern Rivers
northern light ballina logo

Northern Light

Alstonville

www.northernlight.com.au

Visit Ballina Northern Rivers-01
let there be light

“I eat a pot of honey every day and I’ve been stung more than 70,000 times,” says Jeffrey Gibbs, founder of Northern Light, an organic beeswax candle company based on the Alstonville plateau. “I am a beekeeper in love.”

If anyone knows bees, it’s Jeffrey. He started working as a beekeeper 46 years ago and became the north coast’s largest keeper of bees. After years of drought and with millions of bees on the line, Jeffrey turned his entrepreneurial spirit in a new direction.

“Aromatherapy was becoming a big thing in Australia,” says Jeffrey. “I realised, though, aromatherapists were using petroleum candles to disperse their scents. Petroleum is a carcinogenic and a mutagen. But organic beeswax? That’s pure gold.”

Jeffrey set up shop as an organic beeswax candle company, using only the highest-grade beeswax in Australia. Within a year Northern Light supplied candles Australia wide. Early advocates include Nicole Kidman, Rae’s on Wategos, Body Shop, Aveda and Jurlique. Jeffrey’s candles also brought light to the most recent Papal tour of Australia.

More than half the sales are now international, and at least 60% is online. Australia’s largest supplier of cosmetic grade beeswax, Northern Light really is the doorway from the farm gate to the international market.

While reach is wide, the centre of Northern Light’s business is the self-invented tea light machine, which runs on compressed air and macadamia waste.

“That machine has been the biggest challenge but is also our greatest strength,” says Jeffrey. “It took nine years, but eventually I brought it to life. It runs like silk, and is the only machine of its kind in the world.”

Alstonville plateau is a handy location for business. As well as being on a well-serviced freight line, Northern Light collaborates with local macadamia producers. Jeffrey offers honey, and in return, they offer macadamia shells, which Jeffrey uses to create 80% of his energy.

Jeffrey himself, though, is on the road much of the year. He’s driving from South Australia to Queensland, and out west, to visit beekeepers and their bees. The secret of his business is his relationships with the keepers.

For Jeffrey, this is what it’s all about.

Northern Light has tripled the price of beeswax in the last seven years, and this goes straight into the beekeepers’ pockets.

northern_lights _ballina_northern_rivers_001
northern_lights _ballina_northern_rivers_002

Share this story

Read more stories

Community connection runs deep

 1644 848 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Connect Business Solutions
Connect Business Solutions can be thought of as the glue that holds a business community together.

Mount Warning Tours Tweed

a natural business adventure

 1920 1080 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Mount Warning Tours
Despite only existing for four years, Mount Warning Tours’ short life has been eventful: from purchasing the ex-Murray River ferry Spirit of Wollumbin…

crowd pleasing innovation creates a buzz

 1210 864 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

BeeInventive
It’s difficult to know where to start with the remarkable story of BeeInventive. Perhaps in the humble shed in Byron Shire bushland…

A fighting spirit … and great networks

 768 1024 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Five Sixty Farms
Stranded on the roof of his house with his wife and their eight children, Pepe Fassos watched helplessly as his beloved greenhouses smashed and floated away in a tsunami of floodwater.

Step back in time for ‘reel’

 2560 1920 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Yamba Cinema
Yamba Cinema is not just a popular venue to see the latest movie in an idyllic Northern Rivers town.

You can judge a book by its cover

 1440 2560 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Charlie & Fox
When Jess Tunnage’s mother-in-law gave her a sewing machine for Christmas a few years ago, she had no idea how to use it.

the power of the win-win-win sustainability approach

 2560 1707 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

ENV Solutions
In less than seven years environmental consultancy ENV Solutions has grown from a one-man band in Ballina to a multi-award winning business with more than 25 staff across three locations…

glass lab tweed heads 002

riding the wave of success

 1000 661 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

The Glass Lab
Adam Wessel may have worked in surfboard factories since the age of 16, but it was a stint in the luxury yachting industry that sowed the…

cumulus vfx byron 002

effective creatives have all the fun

 1000 750 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Cumulus VFX
They’ve walked the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Hoges. Gone down the garden path with Peter Rabbit. Flown Katie Holmes over…

Brothers spirit and legacy lives on

 1920 2560 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

J. Notaras & Sons
J. Notaras & Sons owes its existence, strong identity and ongoing success to the dreams of two brothers of Greek ancestry.

It was time the level the paying field

 1500 562 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Zepto
What do you do next after more than a decade building up a Byron Bay skydiving business to become a national success and then stepping back after listing it on the Australian Stock Exchange?

stone and wood 001

not just a business, a community partner

 960 761 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Stone & Wood
“That’s like asking parents to name which of their children they prefer,” says Jamie Cook, Stone & Wood co-founder. He has been asked which of the…

Position, people, poached eggs and a president

 2560 1920 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Caperberry and Flinders Rose
What makes an entire family move from three different cities to live together in a quiet coastal town? Great coffee.

Spoiled stays for special pets

 2560 1600 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Skye Park Pet Resort
In 2014, a long-held aspiration finally came to fruition for Helen and Ian MacGregor when they purchased an existing pet boarding facility in bucolic Clarenza, with the dream of making it their own.

Delivering top service, come hospital or high water

 870 652 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

McLeans Freight Service
When Leisa Blok’s father, Laurie McLean, began running urgent nighttime blood deliveries from Lismore airport in 1992, he mightn’t have expected the one-man gig to expand into a 50-vehicle courier fleet, delivering across the entire northern NSW region.

Adapting is second nature for first in class

 2560 1709 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Lazuli and Co.
The hairdresser and business owner, after all, has had a lot to adapt to – her salon is in central Lismore and was destroyed by the February 2022 floods, which also completely engulfed her nearby home. Before that were the ravages wrought by the pandemic.

northern_lights _ballina_northern_rivers_001

let there be light

 2000 1333 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Northern Light
“I eat a pot of honey every day and I’ve been stung more than 70,000 times,” says Jeffrey Gibbs, founder of Northern Light, an organic beeswax…

Townsend taproom breakthrough brews

 1123 627 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Sanctus Brewing Co.
When Sanctus Brewing Co. began life in 2019, there was no indication that the brewery would go on to enjoy the immense success it has over the last three years.

grafton_physio_business_story_001

let’s get physical

 2000 1165 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Grafton Physio + Sport
You know you’re in good hands when you visit your physiotherapist and she turns out to be a world-class athlete. That’s the case for those who…

wrightway products 001

right place, right time, right way

 600 436 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Wrightway Products
The greatest challenge for Jennifer Joy and John Donnelly, the driving force behind Wrightway Products, was getting the world to see the value of…

Start Typing

X