How Baringo ICT Students Are Helping Women Honey Vendors Market Their Products Online
- For years, Baringo women have been forced to line up on the roadside in the hope that they will get customers for their natural honey
- That practice has seen most of them struggle to make a decent profit from the venture, which has huge potential
- However, sooner or later, the hawking of honey along Nakuru-Mogotio-Kabarnet Road might be a thing of the past thanks to ICT students in the area
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The Nakuru-Mogotio-Kabarnet Road is always dotted with women bracing the scorching sun as they struggle to catch the attention of travellers in public and private vehicles so that they can buy their honey.
Source: Original
It is a struggle most of them have been going through for years, waking up every day in the hope they will get just enough customers to buy the product, which financially sustains them.
Many of the women have not been able to make huge returns out of the lucrative beekeeping venture due to the unstructured local markets.
Baringo ICT students helping to market local honey
However, some students at Emining Technical Training Institute in Mogotio, Baringo county, have now taken steps to help the women by marketing their honey online. The students, backed by the Ajira digital club, developed a website where locally harvested honey from smallholder beekeepers is marketed.
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According to Winnie Birir, one of the brains behind the website, they came up with the idea after seeing how the women were struggling to make a sale for their honey.
The website has onboarded all women who source and sell their honey locally.
“As a lady from this area, I see the struggles these women go through with their honey. They stand on the roadside for houses to catch sight of any matatu plying the route and try to convince the passengers to buy the products. It is not easy,” Birir said.
Since the launch of the website on July 7, 2025, it has helped the women sell over 96 kilograms of honey within the past three months, signalling a rising demand for the product online.
Among the women who have benefited from online honey marketing is Winnie Jepchirchir Kurui. She has been a honey farmer and vendor at Emining trading centre for the past 6 years.
Despite the challenges, Jepchirchir, who sells over 100 kilograms of pure honey every month, admits the venture has transformed her life.
“Doing this farming as well as selling has helped me a lot, given that this area is semi-arid, so honey comes in handy,” she told TUKO.co.ke.
Felistus Kibor, another vendor, said that the intervention from the ICT students has lifted the heavy burden for most of them who are making their living out of the honey on the road.
Source: Original
She says most of the women depend heavily on the honey business along the busy roads, and as such, they put a lot of effort into finding markets for their products.
“We are happy as women here because we can be sure of where to get our regular sales. These students have helped us to take the honey and create a cycle economy here,” Kibor said.
Impact of Ajira digital training clubs in Baringo
According to the Ajira digital trainer in Baringo county, Elias Rotich, equipping the young people with digital skills has helped them develop solutions to local problems.
“The students have shown a significant impact whereby they have been able to earn online even as they transform their community to make commercial benefits from the honey that is dominant here,” noted Rotich.
Similar sentiments were shared by Emining TTI principal Jacob Kotut, who said that the skills development has enabled the students to make an impact in the community, as well as enabling some of the parents to afford the education of their children at the institution.
Source: Original
Kotut further said the digital skills have played a critical part in opening up the mindsets of the students and investing their energies in online business and marketing.
According to data available on the Baringo county government website, the county produced 883 metric tonnes of honey in 2023, a steady rise from 500 metric tonnes in 2013. However, that represents only 10 per cent of the annual potential estimated to be over 10,000 metric tonnes.
Local beekeepers earned about KSh 350 million from honey in 2023, indicating the untapped potential of the venture.
Kuresoi youths thirst for digital jobs
Previously, TUKO.co.ke reported that efforts by young people in Kuresoi to take advantage of the ICT hubs set up by the government were facing opposition from their parents.
While the youths see it as an opportunity to make money online, some of the parents believe they are better placed working on the farms.
The government has been establishing ICT hubs across the country as it seeks to open up rural areas to the digital world.
Proofreading by Jackson Otukho, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.
Source: TUKO.co.ke
Joshua Cheloti (Editorial assistant) Joshua Cheloti is a multi-skilled journalist with over 5 years of experience in the media industry. He holds a Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication and is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media and Communication at Mount Kenya University. At TUKO, he's an editorial assistant. Before TUKO, he worked at Nairobi Review as an editorial writer, at Hope Media (Hope TV and Hope FM) as a correspondent in Eldoret, Hivisasa.com digital content editor and online writer, at Biblia Husema Broadcasting (BHB), Eldoret as Radio Presenter. Email: Joshua.cheloti@tuko.co.ke
Elijah Cherutich A trained Kenyan journalist with over 10 years of experience in radio and digital media. I am currently based in Nakuru city in the Rift Valley region working as a TUKO.co.ke correspondent.
