Business Training

About the project MedBEESinessHubs: The aim of the project is to support the economies of five deprived rural communities of Egypt, Italy, Cyprus, Lebanon and Palestine, by empowering and networking local people, especially the youth, in developing handicraft honeybee products businesses and tourism services networks, hence contributing to build a Mediterranean Bee-economy.

Young people and beekeepers will be supported and trained with the aim of developing new business ideas and products that will change the way local communities understand agriculture and beekeeping. The set-up of cross-border networks will enable overcoming traditional downsides of the sector like poor brand perception and the small size of Mediterranean bee businesses which hurdles the capacity to compete in global markets. In the long run, young people will access new jobs in an economic field where it once seemed impossible, and, indirectly, the nature will benefit from the increase in the demand for honeybee products and sustainable tourism. A win-win for bees and local communities.

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Within the framework of the project "Mediterranean Bee Hubs in support for sustainable economic prosperity in deprived rural areas" [MedBEESinessHubs – C_A.1.2_0035] a training program on entrepreneurship issues is due to be organized.  The aim of the program is to improve skills in entrepreneurship, financial management, marketing, innovation and the exploitation of funding opportunities. The program is addressed to existing beekeepers and processors of beekeeping products as well as to people interested in becoming professionally active in the field of beekeeping and processing honeybee products. 

The training modules have been identified through a recent study of the current situation in the beekeeping sector of Cyprus which was implemented by the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In the framework of the study, a field survey was carried out with the participation of beekeepers and other professionals involved in the processing of honeybee products. Among other things, the research has demonstrated the educational needs of micro-enterprises in the sector both in matters of entrepreneurship and technical training subjects.   

Furthermore, the training workshop capitalises on a previous work undertaken in the project EDILE - Economic Development through Inclusive Local Empowerment (funded by the program ENI CBCMED 2007-2013). The output ‘Auto-assessment tool for sustainability of investment projects’ has been incorporated as a specific module of the training material, aiming to prepare the participating micro-SMEs in sustainable decision-making procedures. 

In addition to this educational workshop that focuses on entrepreneurial issues, educational workshops on technical subjects on beekeeping and the utilization of honeybee products, such as environmentally friendly beekeeping practices, the use of wax for the creation of gifts, the utilization of pollen etc, will follow soon. 

The Entrepreneurship Training Workshops are free of charge and include three training sessions. The first meeting will take place on the 25th of October 2022 (13:00-19:00) at the Larnaca Environmental Information Centre in Skarinou, while the meetings on the 8th and 11th of November 2022 (16:00-19:00) will be online.  

It is emphasized that the participants in the educational program will receive preferential treatment (through credits) in a microfinance scheme that will be announced within the framework of the same project in the next three months.  

For information and participation please call on 22355770 and 99871127. 

* The training workshops are supported by the Pancyprian Beekeeping Association