Mission

The mission of Maasai Honey is to support rural villagers in Tanzania, particularly women, through education and empowerment in beekeeping. We intend to create income-generating opportunities, allowing village beekeepers to work in their community, earn money, and support their families.

Project

Beneficiaries of the Maasai Honey project receive both beekeeping training and the equipment to start their own apiary. Each beneficiary participates in hands-on education during a two-week beekeeping training course, plus they each become the owners of a high-quality protective suit, a bee smoker, hive tools, not to mention their very own Tanzanian Top bar hive.

As soon as their hives have reached the point of harvest, we support the beekeepers by buying their honey at a fair market price. In this way, even residents of rural Tanzanian villages can earn a sustainable income through beekeeping.

Values

• We follow sustainable beekeeping practices to support the conservation and regeneration of indigenous African honey bees. African bees are well adapted to their local environment and an important part of the regional wildlife.

• We practice organic beekeeping methods, producing a honey that is all natural and chemical free. Bees forage from remote, forested areas free from commercial farms and industrial pollution. The bees are never fed sugar, they feed only on the wild plants of the region.

• Honey is purchased from rural beekeepers at a fair market price. We aim to create a sustainable business model by creating fair trade agreements with village beekeepers.

History

The project began back in 2010 when founder Krysten Ericson donated a few beehives to residents of Ololosokwan Village. Ololosokwan is home to the Maasai people and sprawls across pristine savannah forests, bordering the Serengeti National Park. As a semi-nomadic tribe practicing pastoralism, beekeeping was a good fit for both the Maasai people and the local wildlife. Krysten specifically wanted to support Maasai women, particularly widowed mothers and those facing hardship; therefore, the Maasai Honey program aimed to empower these women through beekeeping education and access to beekeeping equipment.

• By 2012, Maasai Honey was training 8 local women and had established an apiary site near the center of Ololosokwan.

• By 2018 the project had grown to include over 100 beehives across 4 apiary sites in Ololosokwan Village.

• In 2021, Maasai Honey formalized its beekeeping training program and expanded outreach to other villages.

• By 2024, over 150 beekeepers had benefited from the Maasai Honey training program!

Click here for the full story of Maasai Honey.

Goals

Our primary goal is to increase honey sales for our existing network of rural beekeepers. Increased sales will to help to acheive our goal of sustainability, whereby income from honey sales supports the continuation and growth of the project.

We also aim to reach more village residents, training an additional 100 beekeepers by 2026! Still, the more beekeepers that are trained, the more honey we need to sell. Our goal is to increase honey sales in the USA in order to support more beekeepers in Tanzania!