1st DAY
Monday morning in Kampala, Uganda. We’re heading to the office of Golden Bees, there is traffic but we’re excited to meet everyone in the company. Our host Brian Mugisha, CEO of Golden Bees, is taking us to meet his team and try the best honey in the market, Bee Mine. He has been processing it since 2008 and today we are starting a two weeks work field to help his company to grow. What is Golden Bees? How are we going to work with them? What are the main challenges for this project? Those are some question that we need to answer, but first maybe the most important one is to understand where we are.
UGANDA
Uganda is in East Africa and it’s part of the Sub-Saharan Africa region, its neighboring countries are Tanzania, Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan and Kenya. In the south of the country, you can find Victoria Lake and its multiple islands. The capital city is called Kampala, which has a population of nearly 3 million people, but according to local people during night it’s 1 million as most of them live in the surrounding areas. Currently, almost 80% of Uganda’s population lives in rural areas, but still urbanization is growing fast. The country has one of the youngest populations in Africa, almost half of its population is younger than 15 and more than half is under 18 years old. The conflict in South Sudan generated a new scenario in the country, refugees in Uganda, which is important for our work as Golden Bees will start to work with them. In terms of business, Uganda is ranked 116 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ranking. It improved its position because in 2018 it was in the 127th position. The country has a great potential when it comes to tourism, it has 60 protected areas and within them there are 10 national parks, such as: Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Lake Mburo National Park, Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, Mount Elgon National Park, Murchison Falls National Park, Queen Elizabeth National Park, etc.
Uganda is nature, the Victoria lake, gorillas, giraffes, coffee, Patwas, and also honey, Golden Bees honey.
Golden Bees: honey, beekeepers & more
Founded in July 2008, Golden Bees is a processing company that specializes on honey products but it’s more than that! Golden Bees is a social entrepreneurship that includes innovating the business model, supporting local farmers & advancing their technology that brings a positive impact to complex social, economic & environmental issues in Uganda. Golden Bees is about sustainable impact, from the beekeepers to the new projects related to ecotourism & refugees. They are currently working with over 2,128 smallholder beekeepers living in remote areas, strengthening their system through an extension support network linked to Golden Bees Honey shops (Manyatta/Bwindi Honey Shop).
Golden Bees’ products
- Honey (Acacia, Wildforest & Lemongrass)
- Bee wax
- Propolis
- Beekeeping training
- Beekeeping equipment
How are we working with Golden Bees?
Two weeks might not seem enough time to help Brian and his team, but the truth is that we have been working with them for the last two months before arriving to Uganda. We had Skype meetings and also email conversations to understand better what challenges Golden Bees is facing now. Visibility and production seem to be the biggest issues, so during these two weeks we’ll work on understanding who Golden Bees’ consumer is and what opportunities to grow exist in an expanding Ugandan market that has possibilities to export to Europe, Asia and America.
SMART 2020 