This business idea is for keeping bees for the production of honey and beeswax. The Revenue potential is estimated at NGN 4.4m ($11,736) per year with the project cost of NGN3.2m ($7,345) and a profit margin of 60.4%. The expected payback period is 7 months.
Process Description
Beehives are opened after the bees have been smoked out using a smoke pump, honeycombs are pressed by hand. Honey is separated from the wax using pressing machines to produce better quality honey. Honey from a honeycomb is extracted, warmed, strained, and bottled.
SCALE OF INVESTMENT
| Capital Investment Requirements in (CBN Exchange rate – $1 to NGN 380) as of 31st of March, 2021 | ||||
| Capital Item | Qty | Cost/unit (NGN) | Amount in (NGN) | Amount in (USD) |
| Centrifuge Machine | 1 | 95000 | 95,000 | 232 |
| Wooden beehives | 30 | 30000 | 900,000 | 2,368 |
| Smoker pumps | 1 | 12500 | 12,500 | 31 |
| Buckets | 5 | 500 | 2500 | 6.6 |
| Hive tools | 4 | 1500 | 6000 | 14.7 |
| Protective wears | 3 | 17000 | 51000 | 134 |
| Filtering sieves | 4 | 14000 | 56000 | 137 |
| Land (Plot) | 2 | 200000 | 400000 | 1,053 |
| Total | 1,523,000 | 4008 | ||
Production and Operating Costs
| Item: Direct costs | Units | Per 1kg
NGN |
Qty Per Day | PDN Cost/ Year (NGN) | PDN Cost/ Year (USD) |
| Bee Wax | Kgs | 100 | 1 | 36500 | 96 |
| Honey | Litres | 150 | 1.5 | 54750 | 144 |
| Total | 91,250 | 240 |
General Costs (Overheads)
| Cost/ Year 1 (NGN) | Cost/ Year (USD) | |
| Utilities (Power) | 180,000 | 474 |
| Salaries | 720,000 | 1895 |
| Sub-Total | 900,000 | 2368 |
| Total Operating Costs | 1,680,000 | 4421 |
Direct costs include materials, supplies, and other costs that directly go into the production of the product.
Project Product Cost and Price Structure
| Item | Period | Output | Unit Price (NGN) | Total Revenue (NGN) | Total Revenue (USD) |
| Honey | Per Year (Litres) | 547.5 | 4500 | 2,463,000 | 6467 |
| Bee Wax | Per Year (KG) | 365 | 5500 | 2,007,000 | 5269 |
| Total | 4,470,000 | 11736 |
Profitability Analysis
| Profitability Item | Rev Per Year | Rev Per Year (USD) |
| Honey | 2,463,000 | 6467 |
| Bee Wax | 2,007,000 | 5269 |
| Sub-Total | 4,470,000 | 11,736 |
| Less Prod & Operating Cost | 1,771,250 | 4,661 |
| Profit | 2,698,750 | 7102 |
Market Demand
There is high demand for honey for home consumption, pharmaceutical use in making drugs, and in most instances it has replaced the sugar intake among people with health complications. Some beekeepers salvage the combs to extract wax for making candles or at times it is mixed with maize flour to make ice-cream cones. In addition, wax is demanded by cobblers, makers of household textiles, and garments.
Risk
The risk involved in this business is that there is never a “superhive”, which could potentially disrupt the bees if there is an interruption. However, this can be mitigated by making diverse beehives.
