Ejang’s dream is to build honey empire

If I were asked to mention one woman with unstoppable business ambition, without hesitation, I would look no further than Sandra Ejang. Although beekeeping is seemingly dominated by men, she has claimed her top position in the same business since 2014.
This perhaps explains why she defended her business proposal in the Rising Woman competition sponsored by Daily Monitor, dfcu Bank and Uganda Investment Authority in 2019.
With an investment of Shs100m in her honey business, Ejang has created 40 products and she is not about to stop.
“In villages, most beekeepers are men. It takes a bit of time for a woman to convince people to work with me. You have to go with a man sometimes to show them that you have a strong team behind you,” she says.
When they started out with her husband, who doubles as her business partner, the business was envisaged as a supplementary fund to the family’s income. They invested the first Shs10m with assurance that it would be recovered in the first year of business operation. A year later, the bees had sung their way into the hives and the feeling was that they had lost their money.
The most appealing thing about the company was that they would recover the initial investment by buying the hives. “We bought hives, took them to Kigumba where the apiary is, and abandoned them. When we went to check, there were insects and no honey. That is when we realised beekeeping is not a matter of buying hives and damping them in a given space,” Ejang explains her first business lessons.
Securing resources online and networking with existing local beekeepers is what it took to save the apiary. Within one year of making changes, the combs had honey.
“We realised that we needed to create different spaces; space where to place the hives before the bees enter and another for harvesting purposes. Bees needed water and we had to keep clearing the area to avoid bushes. There was a lot of learning to do,” Ejang says.
In 2016, their first harvest was ready and there were 100 kilogrammes of honey. Although they had made a deal with the hive company to buy their honey, this business deal did not see the light of day.
An initial offer of Shs12,000 per kilogramme had been changed to Shs10,000. The duo looked back at the hardwork and resources invested in the honey business, including transporting the honey to Kampala, it all did not make business sense.
“That is when we decided to venture into packaging our own honey but this was different ballgame because when we started out, that was not our initial plan. Our business strategy had to change, we made labels to sell the honey quickly. Unfortunately, out of 100kgs, were able to sell only 40 kilogrammes,” Ejang narrates.
They were stuck. The branding was poorly done and could hardly attract any potential buyer. The honey jars were leaking. Like they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining.
The distress from this terrible beginning was paid off by the Mandela Washington Fellowship in 2017. She was given eight weeks of networking with other bee farmers and honey producers. The business took a twist thereafter and a rebrand sufficed.
Asali wa moyo, the business, was launched in June 2018 with a honey tasting event in Kampala. There were lessons too from those that walked in.
If they packaged their honey according to its origin, it could give them an edge over competition. Taking the business out of the family house to a shop in Bukoto, a Kampala suburb, was something they had to do urgently. Ejang has since found retailers for the honey.
Today, she says honey in itself is not as profitable, especially when working with farmers, who wish they could benefit from their labour.
“Most people go through middlemen and almost pay them what we pay. We work with the farmer and pay them what we would pay the middleman so that farmer benefits more. This helps to control the quality. We aim at selling a quality product,” she says.
Meeting packaging standards that are environment friendly is the company’s goal, but this soars the prices, given the costs involved in importing glass jars from China.
The business has set its eyes on investing in the entire beekeeping value chain. This ranges from providing consultancy, producing bee hives and putting the actual honey products on the market.
“All our products are honey based. We have propolis and beeswax. We make lip balm, soap, lotions, body butter and eventually we will find ways of partnering with bakeries interested in honey based ingredients,” she says.
The family business’ goal is to be the largest bee farming business in Africa. “There is nothing too ambitious about this, she says. Although capital remains a big challenge, the business strives to join savings groups for financial support to boost the business.
The farmers’ groups are currently 500. There are plans to create cooperatives outside Uganda and provide a market for honey.
Most people are turning to organic foods and it is now fancy to spice tea with honey instead of sugar. She also mixes her honey with herbs and flavours. Foods such as ginger, garlic, chocolate, peanut, macadamia, cashew nuts, propolis, to her, are preferred by many lately.
Breaking even
“Our product line keeps expanding and we keep investing whatever we make back into the business,” she says. She advises women entrepreneurs to think big. “Many a woman start businesses only to make ends meet. But it is time we started thinking global business. Let us start small and grow gradually. It is important to have a supportive spouse because most of the breakthroughs of the business, I was either pregnant or going through post-natal care and my husband ensured business continuity.”