Maasai Honey is a Company registered in Tanzania with a not for profit objective, operating in partnership with a 501(c), registered with the same name in USA. The objective is to generate income through the production and sales of honey and other products made with honey or beeswax, benefiting the local community.

In rural areas, widowers or wives rejected by the husband are put in major social and economical vulnerabilities, because they lose the only source of income to sustain their life and the one of their children. Reduced economic opportunities are a consequence of emargination, that lead to reduced livelihood strategies to cope with challenges such as: cost and procurement of staple foods, to safe water, health services access and education.

Maasai Honey has created a short chain, from producer to consumer, supplying entities of the tourist sector and final customers in Arusha. With this model, Maasai Honey aims at generating sufficient resources to cover the project expenditures and provide training and technical assistance to a group of women with reduced possibilities. The women have united in the group Namelok and they are being helped by the project to undergo the process of formal registration at District level. Namelok members are constantly trained and involved in good beekeeping and processing practices, to empower them and let them grow as a group of experts beekeepers in a cultural context where this traditional activity is controlled by men.

Maasai Honey’s challenge is to give a new opportunity of life to women that otherwise would be living in chronic insecurity.

The company has two main stations. The core of honey production and processing is located in the village of Ololosokwan, in a remote area bordering Eastern Serengeti and Southern Kenya, in the District of Ngorongoro, Arusha Region. The legal head office is located in Arusha, where administration and sales take place.