now in this week's edition of the Business Review we turn the spotlight on two beekeepers who are
promoting mass pollination while satisfying local honey demand Andrew Laidley reports this is a
family-owned bee farm in saint Elizabeth it's the home of b sweet brand a company founded by Yanique
white and Aaron Taylor in 2018. the core business involves reaping and bottling honey for consumers
the business has been growing steadily but things were not always smooth sailing we started out
small so we basically outsourced we rented some of the equipment like the
likes some of the equipment for repaying honey from our hires until we slowly reinvested you you
sell your stock and then slowly reinvest and build a business now the entrepreneurs are
looking to expand to be honest we can't yet fully satisfy the local Americans
and the goal is to continue reinvesting expanding expanding our apiaries and just grow the overall
network so that this thing can be more more and more sustainable because we do want to become
a business that eventually contributes to our country's gross domestic product and hire more
people they work with six team members to get the products to market but that's not
enough it's why they are making this cry for help i need more people to come in who are
genuinely wholeheartedly into this not just for the money can just be about the money but also the
holistic approach of it what you're doing for the environment what you're doing for your country can
just be about you you have to put country first as well and we are definitely patriarchs there that's
that's really the main thing it's a good feeling deep down when you see what you're doing more than
2.5 million dollars has been invested in the business but they admit there are challenges
we lost quite a few um hives to red ants and we had to build back another thing is water
where we have our a perry's is is mainly on the border of manchester and saint elizabeth
and there seems to be um the infrastructure for water in news area it's very it's very
important so we have to um unfortunately unfortunately we have to spend money on
those obstacles aren't enough to stop these beekeepers from thinking big we're looking to
do various forms of automation having a production line working with our local banks for we should be
financing we should have a staff complement of at least outside 25 30 we should at least penetrate
five caribbean countries at least two continents uh let's just say the us and canada for example
although europe is really into artisanal products in the meantime the beekeepers had this advice for
aspiring entrepreneurs i would just like to add a message to all the other entrepreneurs out there
whether you do beekeeping or not even though we need more people in this field of agriculture
don't stop pushing maintain your discipline um obviously the pandemic is uh acts is
affecting everybody but you have to take an approach like weapon democracy keep your head
down look forward and focus on the light at the end of the tunnel andrew laidley tvj news