Project Dago Beekeeping

The Beekeeping Initiative

Dago Kenya is a place with limited jobs and limited resources, where people die young and children are starving. People donate money or goods, but once these resources run out, the community is left where they started. 75% of Dago’s economy is dependent on crops. But due to lack of agricultural education, the villagers were burning natural beehives, not knowing that the bees pollinate the very crops they rely on. Without bees, there was a significant reduction in their crops.

Dago Beekeepers Association

To address this need, we created the Dago Beekeepers Association, combining aspects from the Ontario and the Kenya Beekeepers Associations, empowering nine men with the means to tackle this agricultural challenge. We helped them build a practical training ground with four beehives to teach them the hands-on skills needed to become beekeepers. We also taught them business education to build a foundation and set long-term goals. After the honey was ready to be extracted, we taught them advanced beekeeping skills such as honey extraction and additional business education to help them identify new distribution channels.

Selling honey

We also noticed the beekeepers did not have a collaborative mindset, so we helped them create their own constitution to share best practices and sell their honey together. Ten percent of the profits go back to the association and are reinvested into equipment and branding.

Finally, we introduced beeswax candles to the beekeepers as another source of income!