CREATING A BUZZ
KANUPRIYA SAIGAL, 43 FOUNDER, BEEPOSITIVE++
She is a chemistry graduate from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College, and has a degree in business administration from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade. But Kanupriya’s true passion is apiculture. “On one of my vacations in Europe, I realised there was a great demand for high-value honey products such as Propolis, Royal Jelly, Bee Venom, Honey Comb and Bee Pollen. I was convinced that if our farmers were trained in apiculture, their incomes would increase substantially.” Her idea was selected for the mentorship programme by IIT Delhi’s department of science and technology in the winter of 2015, fetching her an initial grant and an award of excellence for creating the business model. “That was enough seed money for me to chase my dreams,” says Kanupriya. “I quit my job at an MNC and put together a plan.”
To develop the concept, she started working with self-help groups near Rae Bareli. It wasn’t easy. The women of Malik Mau Chaubara village in the district still live under purdah and in the initial days bluntly asked her to leave. “I had never envisaged such a situation,” she says. But having worked as a journalist and a communications strategist, she decided to rework her strategy with the women. “I zeroed in on one of the women who was slightly more open to conversation,” she says. With her help, she was able to finally persuade the women and soon had a force of amateur apiculturists. And in their first tranche itself, they produced 640 kilos of honey. There has been no looking back since.
“When I decided to join my family occupation of apiculture, I was sure that I must take this to a different level. With BeePositive++, I got more clarity on the production and marketing of the higher value products” Sandeep Jaitain, Karnal
Encouraged by her first success, Kanupriya set up BeePositive++ in 2016. The start-up handholds farmers and helps them create farmer-producer organisations, or FPOs, stitching together the various schemes of the central and state governments, as well as corporate funds. She is now trying to create a network of apiculturists in the country, training them to produce high-value honey products. “Honey is the easiest,” she says. “But the real value is in other products. And there is a skill set which is required for making these products.”
Kanupriya aspires to replicate the Amul model in honey “where the cooperatives and FPOs scientifically harvest quality honey and high-value beehive products, process them to sell these products across the world. But, for this, reforms in policies are required. Hope the government does its bit”.