When bees invaded Portia Morudi’s childhood home in Winterveld, Gauteng, her grandfather saw a golden opportunity and sent the family for beekeeping lessons.
That was when Morudi, who had worked in education management for eight years, began her transition into entrepreneurship and rural development. In 2012, she shared her new skills with farmers in her village, teaching them to keep bees so that they could pollinate their crops.
Morudi started out by selling the honey to retailers and private customers, and then decided to expand the farmers’ offering. In 2015, The Village Market SA was launched, offering a delivery service for fresh organic fruits, vegetables, flowers, and honey from the Winterveld and other rural areas around South Africa.
Morudi, her husband, and their team now travel the country, teaching communities how they can coexist with bees. One project helps farmers maintain bee hives on their fences to help ward off elephants, their natural enemy.
Currently Morudi is studying Social Entrepreneurship through GIBS, and plans to develop The Village Market SA into a high-end retailer. “I want to showcase our rural areas in a positive light, and share what they’re capable of with the world.”
|Playing small doesn’t serve the world.|
