Kiggundu mints money from honey

The 23-year-old set out to start on some research he explains, “I managed to learn the whole process and developed my own recipe where I replaced icing sugar for honey.”

Today, Kiggundu is the proprietor of Great Bakes, a bakery company that adds a value to honey. He does this by baking sugar-free cakes and cookies using honey. To add to a great value chain he also lists bee jelly as part of his creations.

He recently participated in the Youth Bee Engaged themed programme highlighted by TUNADO in the recently concluded National Honey Week, which has earned him top-notch clientele such as World of Bees where he supplies about 30 to 40 packs of sugar-free cookies every month.

The process

As early as 6am, the beekeeper is up and about in the beehives clad in safety equipment and moving around with a smoker in his hand to manage the bees. He says, “It gives me comfort to attend to my apiary and collect some honey from the combs which I place in my buckets and later store in the processing room.”

It is from this storage that he gets to sort out the honey by placing it in a processing tank which clears the residue.

He explains, “I pick the honey from the processing tank and pack it in different packages and store the bee combs for sales and collect the bee wax which is taken as bee waste.”

The beekeeper then uses the bee wax extracts as an additive or ingredient in the making of bee jelly and combines other ingredients to formulate a great scent to produce good body odour.

He adds, “To create a range of health benefits, I collect the propolis to put to use in treating coughs, flu and fresh wounds or skin infections.”

In creating a value chain for honey, Kiggundu uses the honey residue as a sweetener in baking cookies which he mixes with other ingredients such as flour and eggs hence a sugar-free recipe for cakes and cookies.

Inspiration

In November 2019, The Apiary Master was set out to start a lucrative business from scratch stating that his inspiration was drawn from a renowned company, Sams Limited that has over time grown from innovating unique honey products on the market.

“I am always inspired by success stories and when I see a company that started from scratch, I am encouraged to do more in offering different products,” says Kiggundu.

The environment he adds harnessed his passion for beekeeping given its serene and greenery appeal. He says, “We had a lot of vacant land filled with trees where the bees would be safe and produce good quality honey hence the need to start an apiary.”

The venture

The young entrepreneur identifies his business as lucrative with a growing market base. “I get enough profits which can increase more and more if the market enlarges,” he says.

Starting out with a capital of Shs700,000, Kiggundu creates products such as jelly, cookies and bee products such as honey and beeswax.

He notes, “I ensure clean and well labelled packages for my products to lure my customers to easily identify with my brand.”

Marketing

Kiggundu recommends a good network of friends, partners and customers to account for business growth. This he shares can be achieved from utilising a number of platforms to expose products to prospective customers.

He says, “I advertise my products on platforms such as WhatsApp, Tik-tok and Instagram and also use individual approaches to reach out to my target customers.”

Kiggundu highlights his art of segmenting customers with a purpose of meeting each of their needs. For instance, if he approaches women, he fronts beauty products made from honey or baked products for children and adult celebrations among other purposes.

Kiggundu also shares his willingness to create new tastes and scents which he says encourages client retention. He shares his recipe of using ingredients such as bubble gum fume, and aloe vera to produce good scents out of the bee jelly products which is enriching for skin health.

The young entrepreneur also leverages networking opportunities for young people such as exhibitions and outdoor activities which introduce him to potential buyers and address his knowledge gap and expertise in processing bee products.

Achievements

The young entrepreneur leverages on investments to build more autonomy over his finances. To him, savings are the future for a growing venture. He does this by putting together savings which he uses again to invest in more opportunities.

“I have managed to make a poultry farm from the money I have been saving from the business and now I supply myself eggs that I use while baking my honey cookies,” he reveals.

Kiggundu has also earned himself numerous business opportunities from beekeeping and purchased processing machines for honey.

“I have equipped about eight young people in Kampala and Wakiso with business tips to start honey business and started a savings organisation to enhance member developments. Building an institute that teaches other youth the benefits of honey,” he says.

A farmer inspects his beehives. Photo by Michael J Ssali