African Honey Bee

Retaining development beekeepers

through microfranchising

Apimondia 2017 - Reference No: 0093

Family in Poverty

Significantly disadvantaged

in education and skills

Struggles

to earn an

income

Fails to escape

the poverty cycle

Child grows up in

poverty

Family in Poverty

Significantly disadvantaged

in education and skills

Struggles

to earn an

income

Fails to escape

the poverty cycle

AHB/Sappi

input:

- Hope

- Training/Education

- Earn income

- Support

- Marketing

- Save and manage

money

Child grows up in

poverty

Improved yield,

productivity

Improved

environment

Break the

Family in Poverty

Significantly disadvantaged

in education and skills

Struggles

to earn an

income

Fails to escape

the poverty cycle

AHB/Sappi

input:

- Hope

- Training/Education

- Earn income

- Support

- Marketing

- Save and manage

moneyReinvestment

Child grows up in

poverty

Innovation and

alternative,

additional

income

streams

More options

Self-sufficiency

Improved health

Microfranchise structure

Some benefits- Business relationship- Replication of methods- All are incentivised to make it succeed- Family owned and run microfranchisees- Share in the value chain upsides- Individual businesses- Governance

Microfranshisee:- Farms bees, chickens, veg

Microfranchisor:- Provides training & support- Buys honey- Markets honey- Shares profit

+ ++ =

Our model

• Saving and borrowing,

teaches groups to manage

and grow their money.

• Investing in the group

incentivises a culture of

responsibility, punctuality,

and diligence, which

helps the group function

efficiently.

• Coming together monthly

as savings groups

stimulates social cohesion

and Ubuntu, through

which, we can help, and

work with our beekeeper

families more effectively.

Savings groups + learn to function as farmers associations

Transformation takes place when our beekeeper families realise that they have

assets: their God-given abilities, the natural resources on their door steps,

scrap in their back yards, and so on - that they can change their lives with.

+ Self-selection: ABCD(Asset Based Community Development)

An example of assets

are the beekeepers

family homes that are

surrounded by

Eucalyptus trees i.e.

excellent honey

producing flora.

+ Skills transfer

Skills include:

+ beekeeping

+ small business

+ egg production

+ poultry meat

+ veggies

+ fruit

Microfranchising

enables:

+ Partnership

+ Ongoing

technical support

+ Ongoing logistical

support

+ Access to market

+ Share in

value chain

profits

Reduction in honey hunter fires - turning honey hunters into honey farmers

Our approach of rewarding a Level 1 graduate with materials to build

a hive (flatpack), has been working very well. | 96% of the flatpacks

we gave out were built into hives. | As soon as a beekeeper has

made their own veil, gloves, smoker, and hive tool, from old jeans,

hats, tins and so on, they receive their first flatpack. | Once they have

caught bees, they get 4 more flatpacks.

This commitment based, milestone approach is sifting out those who

are on the lookout for a quick handout.

We hope that more bees will be caught in the upcoming season.

from March 2016 – July 2017

A summary of our attendance register

from March to July in 2017. Focus has

been on getting those who were trained

last year producing honey this year.

Fla

t p

ac

ks

issued

sin

ce

2016

Hiv

es

pro

duced

sin

ce

2016

Hiv

es

Wit

h

Bees

1,151 1,108 328

Le

ve

l1

Le

ve

l2

Le

ve

l3

Meeti

ng

Hiv

e

Ins

pe

cti

on

Bu

yin

g

Ho

ney

Po

ult

ry

Fru

itTre

es

To

wer

Gard

en

Gra

nd

To

tal

234 172 118 200 827 109 30 5 43 1,738

Project area:

Richards Bay to Mozambique

along the coast in

KwaZulu Natal

Beekeeper families earn income

from honey, egg, chicken meat,

veggies, and from other business

activities that we have helped

and enabled them to start.

All of these are difficult to measure. However, in

trying to turn the project into a self-sustaining

enterprise, we buy honey from those beekeepers

who are keen to sell to us, through our

microfranchise structure.

The honey is then packed in a pharmaceutical

pack house and sold through Pharmamark to

pharmacies. This model is not viable because

Pharmamark pay us the same price that we pay our

beekeepers.

As a result we are launching a new, very exclusive

product, that we hope to supply directly to

pharmacies, or exclusive retail outlets, hoping

to achieve profits that we will share with our

producers, stimulating loyalty and social cohesion.

This honey, that we buy in is possible to measure.

2017

Mo

nth

Sale

s p

er

Mo

nth

Bu

ckets

Pro

du

ced

Harv

este

d

Ho

ney i

n

Kg’s

Waste

in

Kg’s

Pu

rch

ased

Ho

ney i

n

Kg’s

Pu

rch

ased

Ho

ney i

n

Ran

ds

Gro

up

Lead

er

Incen

tive

Mar 10 14 267,73 kg 27,95 kg 239,78 kg R10 475,40 R 1 198,90

Apr 20 29 646,63 kg 102,3 kg 544,34 kg R24 529,60 R 2 721,70

May 36 60 1277,6 kg 179,6 kg 1098 kg R55 753,89 R 5 490,20

Jun 25 82 1834,3 kg 275,1 kg 1559,3 kg R70 468,71 R 7 796,50

Jul 5 6 154,36 kg 18,76 kg 135,6 kg R6 101,25 R 678,00

Aug 1 2 44,04 kg 0 kg 44,04 kg R2 202,00 R 220,20

Grand Total 97 193 4224,7 kg 603,7 kg 3621,1 kg R 169 530,85 R 18 105,50

We are very encouraged by the results reflected

below, that show that we are moving in the right

direction.

Productivitysurvey

140 families2016/17

We use Poverty Stoplight and Productivity

Survey to measure our beekeeper family’s

understanding of their poverty.

Main areas African Honey Bee focuses on:

- 93% Poultry for meat

+ 9% Poultry for eggs

+ 14% Keeping poultry

+ 24% Growing vegetables

+ 60% Selling vegetables

+ 63% Driving licenses

+ 119% Keeping bees

Goal 1: 1,000 beekeeper families with

5 hives each, producing 10kg per hive.

Goal 2: Secure a direct market with a

big chain retailer, and sell the honey as

an exclusive, fully traceable, unadulterated,

natural product, in small volumes that

achieve substantial returns, enabling self-

sustainability and profit share.

Goal 3: Develop other practical income

streams for the beekeeper families, and

even set up other microfranchises to

facilitate their success, if necessary.

Thank youGuy Stubbs

0824541028

guy@africanhoneybee.co.za

www.africanhoneybee.co.za