Hill tribe communities in Thailand, such as the Akah and Karen peoples, are marginalized and live in poverty. They are often viewed as national security threats and denied citizenship. Hilltribe Organics is a social enterprise that works with these hill tribe communities to lift them out of poverty through organic agriculture. The enterprise helps the communities capitalize on their assets of unpolluted land and livestock to produce healthy, organic eggs. This triples the hill tribes' incomes and provides an alternative to issues like drug trafficking. The eggs have been very successful, selling in major retailers and restaurants within a year. The model is helping provide education and a future for hill tribe families on their ancestral lands.

2. Hill tribe communities
"Nearly a million hill peoples
and forest dwellers are
still treated as outsiders—criminals
even, since most live in
protected forests.
Viewed as national security threats,
hundreds of thousands of them
are refused citizenship although
many are natives to the land.”
2013 Bangkok Post

6. “I use Hilltribe Organics eggs in all of my
restaurants. The quality is above all
others.”
Chalee Kader
Celebrity Chef BKK
Healthy organic food on every table in SE
Asia, sustainably provided by hill tribe
farming families

9. Speech at DBS NUS Social Venture Challenge Asia 2015
Markus Dietrich 12.06.2015 Singapore
Hilltribe Organics is a social enterprise from Thailand that lifts marginalized hill tribe communities out of
poverty through organic agriculture. The hill tribe communities, the Akah, the Karen and others are
marginalized in many ways. They are also very poor earning 150USD per month, way below the
poverty line. Poverty leads them into drug and human trafficking, forces them to migrate to
the cities, abandoning their life in the mountains. But there is another side to it, the hill
tribes have assets: Un-spoilt soil and water, clean air, loving and tender care of live-
stock. Through our business model of inclusive organic agriculture, they are able to
capitalize on those assets and lift themselves out poverty by earning more than
500 USD, tripling their income. Our first product is our naturally perfect Hill-
tribe Organic egg, full of good nutrition from the mountains produced by
happy chicken. And they have taken the market by storm, within less than
one year we are on the shelves of the major retailers in the country. We have
become a premium food brand. Thousands of families of the emerging middle
class enjoy the health benefits of our free range and organic eggs. Chefs were amazed
about the natural taste of our eggs and you find them on the menu of the best restaurants
in town. Not only in Thailand but we are expanding to the Hong Kong market. Abu, one of our
first Akah farmers who was about to leave his family to find work in the city and stop his children’s
education. After one year he earned 7,000 USD, his kids go to school and he sees a future again in living
on his ancestral land. Hilltribe Organics enables communities to lift themselves out of poverty. Join us and
make a difference to your life and to the life of others: the farmers, their families and the free range chicken.
Hilltribe Organics placed among the TOP 6 social enterprises in Asia at the DBS NUS Social Venture Challenge 2015