YAP Proposal #360: Tshepi beekeeping (Tshepiso Marumo, Botswana)

I am Tshepiso Marumo, a 28-year-old woman from Metlobo village in the Southern district of Botswana. I currently hold a B.A. (honors) degree in Marketing Management from Anglia Ruskin University, an Advanced Diploma in public relations and advertising from ABM University College, and a basic beekeeping and basic vegetable production certificate from the Rural Training Center.

I have done policy and youth advocacy with FARNPAN.  I am an accredited business trainer and a mentor at Go-Getters Women bw. I am also a former prefect, head girl, TeAIDS peer educator and a founder of the business club as well as director of Tshepi Beekeeping and The zone 4 life PTY Ltd.

The company started operating in 2007 as a backyard beekeeping project with three colonies. In 2011, Tshepi beekeeping registered as a company. The company’s mission is to conserve bee’s spices for the production of honey and beeswax and manufacturing of honey byproducts such as comb honey, chunk honey, and honey snacks.

Currently, the company has started manufacturing honey juice, floor polish and lip balm. Tshepi beekeeping sells its products under the brand name Morelife, and these brands sell in supermarkets, stalls, hawkers, cooperatives, alternative health clinics, vendors, street sellers, events and to individual.

We need a borehole to complete this project and increase production of bee forage as water is the main challenge.

The company has created employment for 5 youth. We also help youth and women in compiling their business plans and getting funding. We worked with four university graduates who completed their dissertation with us.

Moreover, we work with seven street sellers who earn a living through selling Morelife honey brands. Morelife honey contributes to food security and promotes good health to the nation. Moreover, Tshepi beekeeping is an environmentally friendly project.

We believe that removing bees from our environment may destroy many natural species of flowers and plants in Botswana. Many of the plants that our bees help pollinate provide leaves, fruits, flowers and seeds that feed various animal species in our country.

This is an indirect benefit from our bees to the agricultural sector. If bees are removed from the environment, this will not only affect plants negatively but will also affect the many animal species that depend on the plants for their own survival.

Therefore, loss of bees will mean the downfall of our natural ecosystems. The value of our bees is thus crucial to our country in many ways.

Tshepi beekeeping will maintain a good relationship among all stakeholders, suppliers and customers in order to provide services of a high quality standard. Management will be responsible for monitoring progress in project implementation and assuring quality of project outputs.

In addition, Tshepi beekeeping  will providing quarterly progress reports to the YAP secretary and through the YAP secretariat periodic financial as agreed in the financial agreement. Tshepi beekeeping will furnish, compile and make available at all the times to YAP secretariat any records or information, oral or written, which the YAP board and YAP secretariat may reasonably request in respect to the grant received under the YAP.

The company developments are: installment of electricity, dwellings, title deed, valuation report, water rights certificate, tap water, fencing of two hectares, barcodes, nutritional information, documents such as license, Economic Diversification Drive certificate, PPADB tendering certificate, promotional materials such as  stickers, logos, letterheads, stamps, flyers, business cards, name badges and banners, calibrated scales, ceiling machine, computer, printer, bees, beehives.

Since its inception the company has been recognized and awarded from national women expositions, youth as well as local and international recognitions published in magazines and local newspapers. The company was nominated to participate at high-level forums hosted in Senegal, Ghana and Lesotho.

Our measurable success factor is based on production, employment creation and profit.

If I win the YAP grant, Tshepi beekeeping will use this grant to purchasing borehole equipment such as hdpe pipes, baseplates, a motor with lead, plasson adaptor and drilling of a borehole.

These activities will take three months to implement. The borehole will provide water for the orchard to provide bees with forage in this era of climate change, as water is a challenge in Botswana and bee species continue to die out.

 

Blogpost and picture submitted by Tshepiso Marumo (Botswana) – tshepiso.marumo[at]yahoo.com

The content, structure and grammar is at the discretion of the author only.

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This post is published as proposal #360 of “YAP” – our “Youth Agripreneur Project”.

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