Busy bee, busy bee, what have you got in your hive for… what’s that bee? You don’t have a hive? Well, here’s something that might well help with that. It’s an Ikea-style house for all your honey needs.
It’s called Bee-Pak, and described the ‘world’s first flat pack composite beehive system’. What’s more, it’s just won the grand prize of R1 million at the fourth Annual Social Innovation Awards held recently to recognise innovative social entrepreneurship in South Africa.
Created by Greg Eberdeen, Bee-Pak has an encapsulated thermal core to insulate the beehive and is designed to optimise the health, survival and production capacity of bees, which are primary food security pollinators. The beehive also eliminates 60% of the pathogens that destroy bee colonies, weighs 15kgs compared to wooden beehives weighing approximately 50kg, allowing people with limited transportation to field them easily and has a lifespan of 50 years.
“This prize from the SAB Foundation allows us to grow Bee-Pak substantially; most especially we have the opportunity to upscale our workforce immediately by more than 200 people from mostly rural communities. In addition, others can use the system as a means of income generation,” said Aberdeen.
Judges say they chose Bee-Pak as the winner because addressed the global focus area of food security and demonstrated the greatest potential to make a difference in the lives of people, particularly those living in rural areas.
CandidaFree Natural, an anti-fungal treatment, came in second place winning a grant of R500 000 and HearScreenTM Smartphone Hearing Test and Driving Ambitions team came in third winning R350 000.
Seed grants of R150 000 each were also awarded to Barrowmate, AEON Free Energy Access Remote Control, Safe and Sound Technology, The EcoBrick Exchange.
“The SAB Foundation believes that the Social Innovation Awards formula of entrepreneurship and innovation is an effective solution to helping grow SA’s economy, while at the same time addressing social challenges. Our efforts are focused on helping to get the innovations out to market and to reach as many of its intended beneficiaries – women, youth, people with disabilities and people living in rural areas,” says Bridgit Evans, SAB Foundation Manager.
