Lal - The Honey Company | Transformation of Ethiopia’s Honey Sector and Economy

Company Description

Lal – The Honey Company is an Ethiopian enterprise dedicated to sustainably sourcing, processing, and marketing premium honey and bee-based products. Working with thousands of beekeepers, LAL promotes biodiversity, strengthens rural livelihoods, and elevates Ethiopia’s diverse honey heritage to global markets through high-quality, value-added products

Countries of Operation

Ethiopia, Export to the USA

Ownership of Company

Local Company

Number of years since incorporated

8

Project Pitch

Transformation of Ethiopia’s Honey Sector and Economy: Integrating Advanced Training Programs, Beekeeping Modernization Techniques, Community Empowerment, Product Diversification Strategies, Research and Development, Global Market Access Systems for a Vibrant and Thriving Sector

Lal – The Honey Company is an Ethiopian agribusiness dedicated to transforming the country’s apiculture sector through sustainable production, value addition, and global market integration. While Ethiopia is Africa’s largest honey producer and home to exceptional floral biodiversity, much of its honey is sold raw with limited value capture. Lal seeks to unlock this potential by building a climate-resilient honey value chain that connects rural beekeepers with modern processing, product innovation, and international markets.

Over the next five years, the project will integrate 30,000 smallholder beekeepers—70% of whom are women— through training in sustainable beekeeping, improved hive technologies, and reliable market access. A centralized processing and innovation facility in Addis Ababa will aggregate honey from multiple regions and convert it into high-value products including premium table honey, medicinal honey formulations, honey-based nutraceuticals, beeswax cosmetics, and luxury candles for domestic and export markets.

Lal’s vertically integrated model ensures traceability from hive to consumer through technical training, research and development, quality sourcing, processing, traceability, retail boutiques, and export distribution. Ultimately, the project goes beyond honey production. Its goal is to improve livelihoods, strengthen inclusive and sustainable food systems, protect biodiversity through pollination, and position Ethiopian honey and its producers on the global stage.

Team

The company is headed by the Founder and Managing Director, Seble Makonnen Butta, who holds a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Butler University School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in the United States. Seble had practiced pharmacy in the capacity of manager in the US for 12 years before moving to Ethiopia in 2011 to join a family owned company, MakoBu Enterprises PLC engaged in the supply of high standard agricultural inputs and technologies to smallholder farming communities throughout Ethiopia.

Selamu Bekele Gebremichael is also the co-founder, who serves as the procurement manager for Lal-The Honey Company. Selamu holds two degrees, one from the Zakir Hussein College, University of New Delhi in the area of Industrial Relation and Personnel Management and the second in Automotive Technology from Gwinnett Technical College in the United States. Selamu is currently responsible for directly engaging with beekeepers throughout our sourcing locations, procuring quality honey and implementing training programs along with apiculture experts in project areas.

Both Selamu and Seble directly engage with beekeepers in various beekeeping communities across Ethiopia.

Type of Project

Private Company project

Stage

Growth stage

Annual Revenue (in EUR)

50.000 - 100.000 EUR

Number of employees

11-50

Total Project Cost (in EUR)

16,000,000

Financing needs (in EUR)

6,300,000

Type of financing needed

Debt, Equity, Grant

The Company is looking for

Financing, Joint Venture/Partnership, Technology Solution/Equipment, Clients for my products/services, Partners to distribute my products

Planned allocation of fundraising capital

Expansion (expanding an existing activity)