Officials from the Joyful Women Organization (JOYWO), an initiative under First Lady Rachel Ruto, have intensified efforts to expand women’s economic opportunities through beekeeping following a strategic visit to the Savannah Honey Beekeeping Centre in Utawala, Nairobi.
The delegation, led by Arnold Kipchumba (Director, Environment and Livelihoods), John Njuguna (Partnerships and Resource Mobilization), and Alice Muchiri (Livelihoods and Enterprise Development), held talks with Savannah Honey CEO Kyalo Mutua, Program Manager Winfred Muindi, and Head of Marketing & Partnerships James Kimathi on scaling women’s participation in apiculture and related value chains.
The discussions centred on how beekeeping is increasingly providing women with sustainable income streams through modern production techniques, value addition, and improved market access.
Founded in 2009, JOYWO has expanded from 60 women in Eldoret to more than 240,000 members across 44 counties, largely through its table banking model, which enables women to access credit for business ventures, housing, and education. The partnership with Savannah Honey is expected to further strengthen these gains by linking financial inclusion with practical, income-generating activities such as beekeeping.
At the heart of the collaboration is Savannah Honey’s work in equipping women with technical skills in apiculture, enabling them to diversify income sources and build resilience at the household level. The company recently launched Africa’s first bee venom marketplace, a move that opens up high-value opportunities for women and integrates them into global supply chains.
“By empowering these women, we are giving them a means of having their own incomes, which of course directly goes to the improvement of their diets, improvement of their general family welfare, talking about the school fees of their children, talking about their dressing, talking about their clothing and their shelter, even for the children. And generally, this improves their livelihood because there is very minimal conflict with their husbands. After all, they are supporting them, and as a result of that, everybody in their home becomes happy. This, of course, goes hand in hand with improving their health, because once their income goes up, generally the health of the family becomes better. And just so you know, once the woman has money in their home, a lot of good things will happen because one, of course, the children will not have a challenge with food, will not have a challenge with school fees, there will not be a challenge of shelter, and generally the entire home will be happy,” opined Savannah Honey CEO Kyalo Mutua.
The initiative underscores the growing role of beekeeping as a tool for women’s empowerment, with stakeholders pointing to its potential to drive income generation, enhance household welfare, and promote economic independence across communities.
