By Antynet Ford

Savannah Honey has launched 11 beauty and skincare products made from bee venom, as the ingredient rises globally due to its mellitin, which stimulates extra blood and oxygen to cells, speeding growth and repair.

Speaking at the launch of the company’s venom marketplace last week, Savannah Chief Executive Officer Kyalo Mutua said the company is now racing to secure enough raw material.

“We have developed a strong need this year, as we are now producing ourselves 11 cosmetics products from the venom, which have already been released to the market. As well, we have got a buyer who wants us to supply at least 4 kg every two weeks and that’s why we are having a nationwide drive to visit 40 counties looking for the recruitment of the farmers to do the supply to us,” he said.

The 11 new bee venom products include hair growth oil for treating baldness, bee venom beard growth oil, bee venom body scrubs, sun screen, eye cream, styling gel, serum face scrub, and hair wax.

As the company expands the sales of the products, Mutua said they are currently eyeing countries outside Africa for export, although this is still at the discussion stage.

“We make the products ourselves. We started two years ago and we are just expanding this year by adding more venom suppliers. The sales and distribution is done across the region in the seven countries that Savannah Honey is established in. We expect to export outside the continent to countries that we have been talking to,”

“The venom is good because it has a high quantity of peptides which help in the renewal of the skin. It also has products that help in the growth of hair and are used on beards and hair by women,” he said.

The company, which also trades in honey, propolis and beeswax, will recruit farmers mainly through cooperatives into five-year contracts requiring them to deliver at least one gram of venom per month.

“We have had over 15000 farmers supply honey and other products, but this market for bee venom targets only 4000 farmers with cooperatives being involved. The cooperatives are to help us target more farmers who keep bee because through them it is easier to achieve the specified number of 4000 farmers,” said Mutua.

During the recruitment drive, Savannah will be training the farmers in the safe collection and preservation of venom, before they begin supplying the product over the next five years on contract..

The farmers will then deliver the venom to county collection centres where it will be aggregated.

Mutua said for a farmer to be contracted, they will need to have at least 20 beehives for the company to be sure they will be able to supply a gram of venom collected every month.

“A smallholder farmer can produce at least half a gram from the 20 beehives per harvest and it is harvested twice a month meaning you get an average of a gram per month with at least ten grams in a year. We shall be buying a gram at Sh4000 translating to about Sh40,000 per farmer for the period of one year.”

According to one of the farmers present at the launch, the biggest change for farmers is not only the new product, but the guaranteed buyer.

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“With the marketplace for bee venom being launched, I hope to make a good fortune because the market will be readily available. The payment is always instant with no long waiting periods,” he said.

This has made him confident about the opportunity..

“When Savannah Honey approached me at first, I was very hesitant because I was not sure if they would help me get value from my bee keeping. After some time, I accepted and moved from having only two beehives to now 20. It was from my interaction with them that I got to learn that from apiculture, there were other products valued higher other than the honey itself. I also now sell the other products too apart from honey alone when I started.”

If the 4,000 targeted farmers each produce 10 grams annually, the program could generate 40,000 grams (40kg) of bee venom per year positioning beekeeping as a high-value line where farmers earn from multiple hive products simultaneously.

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