TORONTO MET ENTREPRENEUR INSTITUTE ​

PROJECT DAGO
BEEKEEPING

EMPOWERED 9 KENYAN MEN

OWNING 24 BEEHIVES

CREATING 9 NEW JOBS

Project Dago

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.

To address this need, we created the Dago Beekeepers Association, combining aspects from the Ontario and the Kenya Beekeepers Associations, empowering 9 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.

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. 10% 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!

The Participants

Benefits

  • Long-term thinking
  • How to start and run a bee farm
  • How to save money
  • How to invest in your business
  • Product differentiation
  • How to create distribution channels
  • How to brand your business
  • Collaborative entrepreneurial mindset

Team Members

Benefits

  • An international experience
  • One-on-one mentorship
  • Business knowledge
  • Real-life business consulting experience
  • How to measure and track metrics
  • The satisfaction that comes with genuinely helping our fellow human beings