Ex-auditor turns beekeeping into climate-smart revolution

Apiculture Venture Limited Managing Director Pauline Otila./HANDOUT

Pauline Otila is not your ordinary beekeeper.

 As a managing director of Apiculture Venture Limited, Otila is using bees to craft local solutions to global problems — turning traditional beekeeping into a tool for climate resilience, women’s empowerment and food security.

 “Our goal is to transform traditional beekeeping into a climate-resilient practice. I developed a new type of beehive that is 80 per cent free of timber — only the frames are wooden,” she said.

 Her innovation, made from polystyrene, provides better insulation for bees, allowing them to maintain stable temperatures in both hot and cold weather. This reduces honey consumption for warmth and protects brood colonies during cold snaps. The hives are also lighter, more durable than traditional wooden ones.

 Otila, whose background is in finance and auditing, left her corporate job to pursue what many in her community considered an unlikely venture.

 “In my home area, people fish — not keep bees. My father told me to stop joking and find a real job,” she recalls. “Eight years later, I’ve shown that beekeeping can create income, jobs and change.”

 Apiculture Venture Limited provides a one-stop solution for modern beekeeping — from equipment, honey extraction and packaging to training and technical support. Otila also plants trees twice a year as part of her broader climate action efforts.

 Her innovation journey was not easy. “I failed three times before,” she said. “But when I finally got it right, the model attracted seed capital from the UK.”

 Today, the enterprise runs over 3,000 beehives across Kenya, processing 12 tonnes of honey last year and eight tonnes by July this year. Her company employs 22 youths and women, helping to restore degraded landscapes while providing livelihoods.

 In Tana River, she has supported 2,500 women to each acquire three beehives through a shared cost model — they pay 30 to 40 per cent upfront, with the rest recovered after honey harvest.

 Otila’s innovations have also attracted commercial clients such as Kakuzi PLC, where she has deployed 100 hives for crop pollination. “Three hives can pollinate an acre,” she said. “And since bees fly up to four kilometres, nearby farms benefit too.”

 She is also investing in digital traceability systems to unlock premium local and export honey markets, enlisting a young university student to help develop the technology.

 Beyond honey, her firm produces seven different by-products, including beeswax, propolis, pollen, royal jelly and even beauty products. “Instead of using harmful skin-lightening creams, I created natural products from bee derivatives to help women maintain their beauty safely,” she said.

 Otila warns that without serious interventions, bees — responsible for pollinating 80 per cent of the world’s food — could vanish within four years, with devastating consequences for global food security.

 “I hope bees will be given the attention they deserve in discussions on food security. If bees disappear, there’s no pollination — and no food,” she said.

 As the world heads to Brazil for the next round of climate talks in November, Otila has a message for African leaders: “We need to collaborate like bees — each one doing its part for the good of the hive.”

 Her journey from finance auditor to climate innovator proves that small creatures — and big ideas — can indeed change the world.

 INSTANT ANALYSIS

 Pauline Otila’s story captures the fusion of innovation, climate action and women’s empowerment in one compelling narrative. Her shift from finance to climate-smart beekeeping shows how local ingenuity can drive global sustainability goals. By replacing timber with polystyrene, she tackles deforestation while improving bee resilience — a vital step as pollinators face extinction threats. Beyond technology, Otila’s model empowers thousands of rural women and youth, proving green solutions can be both profitable and inclusive. Her success also highlights Africa’s untapped potential in climate innovation — a reminder that grassroots entrepreneurs, if properly financed, can lead the continent’s adaptation and food security efforts.