They are members of COPRIKA cooperative established in 2013. The latter processes and sells honey but started making candles this year after realizing that wasted
beeswax could be used to produce essential products.
Initially, the health workers produced different types of body lotion where some of them are used for medicinal purposes to treat skin ailments.
They kept testing different products until they successfully made candles from the beeswax which they consider as a great milestone towards reducing the cost associated with the importation of similar products.
Apart from lotion and candles, these community health workers have started melting the beeswax to produce shoe cream.
Constance Mugorewera, one of the cooperative’s members has told IGIHE that the idea surfaced after realizing how large quantities of beeswax are wasted.
“Before, we used to process large quantities of honey which were bought in bulk and threw the residues. The harder people work, the more they gain new skills. By doing so, we later discovered that beeswax can be used to produce quality candles,” she said.
“In 2022, we received a training which equipped us with necessary skills to produce quality candles. Today, we have one machine which helps us to make six candles per day but we plan to buy more to increase production,” added Mugorewera.
Mugorewera said that they plan to start selling their candles before the end of this year after increasing daily production.
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