fair trade honey, wax and bee products

Organic and fair trade Apiculture products
'Miel Royal Savanna Honey' and 'Oku White Honey'
Yellow and black wax
Propolis
Handmade soaps with honey, wax & medicinal herbs.
Fragrant moulded & rolled candles from beeswax and cotton
Hand & body creams and lip balm containing beeswax & honey.

Training local gropus in production and transformation, buying, colleciton, warehousing, distriubtion, marketing and export.

basic needs products = soap, candles, body creams
basic food central africa market = honey
luxury food international market - organic & fair trade honey
industrial = organic wax, propolis

We already produce honey, wax and propolis from 1037 beekeepers organised into village groups. We are linking with another 500 plus beekeepers to expand production and products. We are training our beekeepers womens groups in honey and wax based candle, soap and beauty cream production and want to expand to more professional but low tech, local product organic production. Filtering, packaging, warehousing & marketing are Yaounde based.

Honey and soaps are sold in Cameroon; markets, supermarkets, word of mouth and personal distriubtion and at fairs/exhibitions
Wax is sold direct to 2 specialist buyers, by train, truck and by sea container to Europe
Propolis is shipped to a pharmacuetical company in South Africa
Strong supplier chains with beefarmers and wax producers ensure organic and EU standards quality assurance. Labels, info & PR campaigns ensure consumer awareness.

Currently; individual consumers in Cameroon, 2 sales agents in Cameroon, supermarkets and pharmacies, specialist wax buyers & pharma/medical companies in Europe & S.Africa,
Potentially European honey packers, fair trade and organic product buyers, specialist wax buyers & pharma/medical companies in Europe & S.Africa, agents in other African countires,

Cameroonian honey and wax producers and middlemen, African and international organic honey producers, international organic and fair trade honey and wax producers eg Zambia, large scale propolis producers eg Brasil, South Africa, India, cosmetic companies, sugar industry, petroelum candle industry

We add value to a traditional activity by increasing quality & value for hive by-products, introducing new production techniques & wax export, stimulating local transformation into high demand products.

We're the 1st Cameroonian GIC to;
- transform high quality wax
- export large scale to Europe
- go for fair trade and organic certification.
- found the Union of Apicultural Products
We're committed to social repsonsiblity and involving producers, ensuring community returns via sustainable apiculture production, reforestation and conservaiton. We produce quality honey AND transform it to locally added-value products.

focusing on local & regional markets selling high quality products + international niche, low volume, high margin organic and fair trade markets for honey and wax. Also by increasing processing and transformation of raw apiculture products into added value soaps, candles, creams, medicines with a wide local & national market if well produced and marketed. Customer surveys already indicate high interest. maximising hive product outputs

2 founders set up the 'Common Interest Group and we now have 6 Directors - young entrpeprenus with different background who are very active both running the business and planning. This Directors Committee is the main decision making organ. Advisory members were original members but are not actively involved.

3 members already have 5+ yearsof settingup SMEs, 2 members have 20+ years broad business expereince, 2 have development expereince, 1 has environmental expereince, and 2 have strong marketing skills, we have recruited other skills on an as needed basis from our network and work closely with partners and suppliers where ever possible to complement our skills, add expereince, and beleive strongly in networking to increase business skills.

3 directors spend approx 50-75% of time next to studies, 2 are full time and 1 is at 60%. Staff work on an as needed basis as many parts of the production are currently seasonal, as are apiculters groups

Making beekeeping accessible to disadvantaged, well provide opportunities to increase incomes & employment'- improved beekeeping leads to increased api-products production and training on creams, soaps and candles proudction for subsistence use, local and wider sales. Research and education on sustainable natural resource use will help provide local solutions to deforestation, soil degradation, water quality & quality problems.