SWEET LIFE SWEET LIFE - Young beekeepers reaping success Young beekeepers reaping success

Up to about three years ago, Yanique White was working in a lab making good use of her studies in chemistry, but she was not happy.

"I felt unfulfilled with a regular nine-to-five. I was not very passionate about it. My heart longed for the excitement of entrepreneurial life," she said in an interview with JIS.

White and life partner Aaron Taylor decided to take the plunge into beekeeping and are now reaping sweet success through their 'Bee Sweet Honey JA' holistic company.

The business, located in St Elizabeth, manufactures raw honey and a range of honey products, while at the same time protecting the environment and helping to increase and sustain the local bee population.

From an initial investment in four hives, the company now boasts 90 hives, with a staff of six persons producing raw honey; honey blends, which is pure honey infused with red raspberry, hibiscus, chamomile, lemon, ginger, among others; and clean-burning candles.

"We were cautious. We honed our craft and we continue to learn as we grow. We started out small as a means to learn and understand how to manage our own bee population and apiary to prepare for a time when we would expand, and now we are proud owners of commercial apiaries," Taylor said.

White said that she had long had an interest in beekeeping, having been exposed to the craft by her neighbour as a child. "So I decided three years ago to learn more about beekeeping," she said. White sought training through the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries' Apiculture Unit located at the Bodles Research Centre in Old Harbour, St Catherine.

The training spanned four months and involved a mixture of theory and field work, equipping her with the necessary skills to enter the beekeeping sector.

Aware of and concerned about the dwindling global bee population and the impact of this on food production, White said that a key objective was to contribute to the growth of the local bee population.

"I saw it as my opportunity to dedicate my time to a science and an art that provides people with a source of nutritious food and also a way for me to play my part in keeping the web of life intact, so to speak," she said.

Meanwhile, the Bee Sweet Honey JA team is using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to innovate. For its part, the company has added new honey blends that include turmeric, ginger and garlic honey blends to its line of products.

"The pandemic has actually inspired three of our newest honey blend products, which benefit us as entrepreneurs as well as our customers. Additionally, with the increased knowledge of the health benefits of honey and honey-based products, we have found that our client base has grown and our sales have gradually increased," Taylor said.

In looking towards the future, the young couple has ambitions of expanding Bee Sweet Honey JA to the wider Caribbean and beyond.

"We want to push Jamaican-made products regionally and internationally," said Taylor. "Our aim is to employ more people locally and across international borders. We want to be considered as positive players in the Jamaican economy, making significant contributions to the country's GDP."