MOKGADI MABELA

Founder of Native Nosi

Honeybees and black women. Not a likely partnership, but Mokgadi Mabela’s story of beekeeping and honey is one of legacy and a wealth of generational knowledge. The founder and owner of Native Nosi, Mokgadi’s honey-production company, received social media attention earlier this year when she shared a video of one of her bee hives vandalised, with honey stolen and bees killed.

It turns out this is a ruthless industry, with the Southerns Beekeeping Association listing syndicate-style vandalism and killings of bees, declining bee population, and fake honey imports from abroad, as some of the challenges local beekeepers like Mokgadi face.

Native Nosi is a 100% female-owned beekeeping company that specialises in the production of pure and raw South African honey. Mokgadi’s roots are in beekeeping and honey production. Even though she had no plans to go into the industry, during her time in corporate, she noticed that many people were using honey that was bland and unusually porous – something very different from what she grew up eating. Her father is and always was a beekeeper – a skill and trade he learned from his father. Growing up, Mokgadi and her family always had honey in the house.

Following a challenge from her corporate colleagues to bring her father’s honey, orders started pouring in. Fast track to today, and Mokgadi’s Native Nosi is almost five years old, with just under 400 beehives – all from a beehive acquisition suggested by her father, so she could start making her own.

Native Nosi is now an award-winning company known for its prized honey, honey-based products, and pollination services to crop farmers in and around northern South Africa.

Native Nosi is available online and at Native Nosi Honey Emporium at Greenlyn Village Centre in Menlo Park. They deliver nationwide. They also host beekeeping masterclasses, as well as honey-tasting sessions, when the Covid-19 restrictions allow. The emporium can also be booked for private events of up to 12 people, for intimate events such as baby showers, high teas, bridal showers, reading clubs, etc.