Please support my bee-keeping community project

Entrepreneur

About Me

My names are Robert Gachie Kamau but most people call me Gachie. I was born on March 30, 1987. I live in Juja, with my family. I live with my wife and my two beautiful daughters, one aged 2 and ½ years and the other four months old. I have two brothers but I don’t have sisters so that's a bit boring sometimes but I am not sad about it because I'm not that kind of person. I'm an active, easy-going and talkative person and I love to talk with new people.

I am self-confident. That's why I think differently from other people, but sometimes I have too much confidence and it's not good for me. I love sports like swimming, badminton and volleyball during my pass time. I like to try new things (except if it too dangerous, then I won't try it). I consider myself a young, visionary, energetic, motivated and hardworking person. Moreover, I am a person who believes that I can do something for the good of my country Kenya. I believe that I have the capability to do much better if I am provided extra resources to continue with my project.
Since High School, I have considered community work to be an important aspect in life. All human activities in numerous areas such as farming, business and others have a well structured underlying community work framework. This fact stimulated me to pursue community work for the welfare of my community, country and humanity at large. I graduated in 2010 with a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology in Kenya. I choose pure mathematics as my specialization although at this time, a few people knew about pure mathematics and few students choose pure mathematics as their specialization.
Although my undergraduate programme provided a strong background in the basic fundamentals of life, this is not enough; hence the need to continue with community works so as to enrich and widen opportunities for poor families. Overall I am gratified by my academic record and I also believe that my undergraduate studies have prepared me very adequately for other areas; I also believe that being involved in community work has many opportunities and is important in society.

My Business

I work as a freelance writer and write academic and term papers for Academia-research and Ovucorp. I’m also involved in rearing chicken and also own a cybercafé. Roughly, I make around $ 500 dollars a month. This income has assisted me to serve the community and for the upkeep of my family. In a nutshell, I am self-reliant and earn extra money to assist the community. I am interested in community work; as well as, other people’s cultures and social lives. In my free time I like to participate in empowerment projects to enhance the lives of my community.
Currently, the development of Kenya as a whole has been hindered by the shortage of ideas, mentor-ship and funds in community empowerment. These circumstances persuade me to continue with community work.
Reasons for applying for funds include:
1. It will advance the development and empowerment poor families in Kenya and strengthen the future of the country’s education in general.
2. It will fill the gap of unemployment graduates and strengthen sustainable development in Kenya.
With regard to the factors above; I think the area that I have chosen will benefit Kenya massively.
My ambition is to be a rich business man and a philanthropic community service man at the same time; hence, I hope that my life will be better and better other people’s lives in my community and hope the projects I’m involved in will have rewarding experience to the community I serve in future. Finally, I hope all my dreams will come true and I will be very happy if I succeed in all my endeavors.

Loan Proposal

BEE-KEEPING COMMUNITY PROJECT
I started the project for which I am currently requesting funding for in the year 2010. This project seeks to establish bee-keeping training for the benefit of generation after generation in my area and long-term poverty reduction through helping the young people to help themselves. My current bee-keeping project plays a small but important part in reducing extreme poverty through teaching the next generation how to make money out of agriculture.
At the heart of my approach is a focus on achieving financial and operational sustainability: Financial sustainability is incorporated into my bee-keeping project design as part of the education process families produce actual goods. The income generated from the sale of these products is used to cover training and production costs. On the other hand, Operational sustainability is ensured by working within the framework of existing organisational structures through partnering with Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (K.A.R.I).
Rational behind the Bee-Keeping project
Bee-keeping, with its low start-up costs, low maintenance requirements, and low use of land, combined with a high value product, offers an ideal means for families with few resources to supplement their household income.
The high value of the honey and hive products is more than capable of generating sufficient funds to pay for the costs of providing a bee-keeping instructor and hive maintenance allowing otherwise financially constrained families to extend their educational capabilities.
The project outlined is based on ensuring the local ownership through partial self-funding required for its successful implementation. Currently this project has 20 participants, each having a minimum of one bee-hive. There is a total of 50 two-storey Langstroth ten-frame hives currently in possession of the members. Each member contributes a small amount of $ 3every month to assist in the development of new bee-hives in Juja. In addition, each member is obligated to give back to the project 10 % of earnings from his/her hive (s).
The project:
• Provides funds for the establishment of hives stocked with apis mellifera mellifera bees
• Provides training new families in Juja, all aspects of bee-keeping from hive construction, maintenance & disease prevention, to harvesting, processing, and packaging of honey and other hive products.
• Assists the families to access advisory services from K.A.R.I.
Income
The project currently receives a minimum of $ 90 dollars as monthly contribution and approximately $1,100 yearly through earnings by member families.
Outcomes
My goal is that by 2016, bee-keeping activities should be generating income sufficient to cover the cost of a trained bee-keeping instructor and ongoing hive maintenance and replacement costs. Specifically:
• Member families currently in Juja will have been trained to a standard where they will be able to establish and maintain their own hives as a viable business activity.
• The hives will bring in additional income which will be used to buy additional educational resources such as books & equipment, and to fund scholarships for the neediest pupils in my area.
• This project promotes the replication of well-developed project to other regions in Kenya without the need for substantial fresh resources.

When I get this loan no matter how little it may sound, it may assist in purchasing one more two-storey Langstroth ten-frame hives and recruit a new member family and train him/her to be self-reliant. Moreover, the income from this project is expected to rise in subsequent years as additional hives are added and new member families are recruited and trained.
This year’s estimated Budget Summary
Training $550
Two-storey Langstroth ten-frame Hives $1,880
Administration $100
Total $2,530

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