Many youths struggle to find jobs or profitable trade because they lack the necessary skills to fit in with available jobs or develop products and services that the market is willing to pay for.  

For young girls, the situation could be worsened with gendered traditions that confine their pathways by limiting jobs they can choose or learn. 

“After failing my lower secondary education in 2021, I stayed at home and dependent entirely on my parents,” that is how Matrida, a resident of Kidyama village in Kasulu summarized her life from 2021 to 2025. 

Her perspective changed when the Ministry of Agriculture Training Institute (MATI)-Mubondo worked with local leaders to invite youth, particularly girls, to apply for courses in bee keeping and value addition to agricultural crops. 

Organized with technical and financial support from Enabel Tanzania’s Wezesha Binti project the work readiness training sought to enable girls to take advantage of the economic opportunities available in Kasulu district in Kigoma region, an area richly endowed with fertile soils and extensive forest resources. 

Matrida and 269 other learners from different villages of Kasulu and other districts of Kigoma participated in a three-month training programme. The three months transformed  Matrida perspective on her future. A girl that was unemployed and confined to her home became motivated to pursue entrepreneurship opportunities. 

At MATI-Mubondo, she learned modern techniques for establishing and managing an apiary, as well as processing honey into a range of value-added products. Although she was aware of the medicinal value of beeswax oil, she had not known how to extract it before attending the training at MATI-Mubondo. 

“I have learned how to get wax oil, and I have therefore started my own small operation of extracting oil from wax and packing it for sale,” says Matrida. 

In addition, Matrida, serves as the chairperson of Young Beekeepers Group, a 16-member association formed with fellow trainees from Kidyama Village.  

News of a group of 15 young girls and one young man engaged in bee keeping and honey processing business raised eyebrows in their village. Culturally bee keeping and honey selling is done by aged men in Kidyama and in Kigoma generally. 

During the training, participants also learned about gender equality, which broadened their understanding of the economic, social, and cultural opportunities available to both women and men. With Young Beekeepers Group, gender is no longer a block. Wezesha Binti project provided the group with start-up support, including   30 beehives, protective gear and other bee keeping equipment. In addition, MATI-Mubondo allocated land to the group for the establishment of an apiary for a period of five years. 

Now, after putting her skills to work, Matrida is no longer dependent on her parents. While she has five hives on her own, her wax oil business, she is working with her group towards increasing their production capacity to 500 hives and moving their apiary to their own piece of land by 2030. ends