Mihret Kiros was placed in an arranged marriage at the young age of 16. Today she is a 25 year old, young mother of five children. In order to survive and provide for their children, Mihret and her husband worked as laborers, however the income generated from this was too little and insufficient for their family.
When life became unbearable, her husband illegally migrated to an Arabian country in 2016. Unfortunately, as he did not posses a working permit, he was deported back home.
After months of labouring and caring for their livestock, Mihret and her family tried to sell them in hopes of gaining a small profit to cover the cost of food. Despite the many hours they spent in the field and maintaining their livestock, this method continued to be a struggle for the family.
In 2018, initially having no knowledge of the bee-keeping industry, Mihret was selected to become a BEE LIEVE ‘Beekeepers Economic Empowerment Through Long-Term Investment in Entrepreneurship and Valuable Chain in Ethiopia‘ client.
While participating in the BEE LIEVE activities she was given an opportunity to undertake intensive training based on the bee-industry and money management.
Simultaneously, as their finance manager; Mihret and seventeen other youth from surrounding villages established a cooperation named TSIGIE; translating to ‘seed’ as they hoped this initiative would strengthen their local bee-keeping industry and be the first step to a brighter future and economic development.
In the Month of November 2019, Mihret harvested 25kg of honey from the hives she kept at her residence. She then sold 20kg of the honey at 270 birr per kilogram.
