Honey of a hobby spinning jobs
From The Herald, PORT ELIZABETH Wednesday January 2, 2008
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Dr Garth Cambray, director of the Makana Meadery in Grahamstown, inspects some of the bees that produce the honey from which a whole list of products are made. Picture: Judy de Vega |
THE Herald Citizen of the Year business category winner Garth Cambray has turned a lifelong hobby into an enterprising business and an opportunity to create employment.
Cambray, 30, a honey-wine producer and biotechnologist, is the director of the Makana Meadery in Grahamstown.
“I collect hobbies. Most of the work I do here is made up of my hobbies,” he said. “It‘s an indulgence to turn one‘s hobby into making the world a better place.”
He has a doctorate in biotechnology, which he describes as his “favourite hobby”.
Makana Meadery was founded seven years ago with the primary objective of placing a South African honey- based beverage, iqhilika, on the world‘s shelves.
The business had its beginnings in a Rhodes University-based research project to develop fermentation technology for producing iqhilika.
The meadery is housed in an old power station on the outskirts of Grahamstown. It is a world leader in mead process design and holds a patent on its continuous fermentation process.
Products sold by Makana Meadery include an award-winning herbal mead; sweet, dry and chilli meads (which are sold to an exclusive market in 37 states in America); vinegar, honey, honey marmalade, honey-mead mustard, and a range of jams made from seasonal fruits and honey.
“Honey wine which is left over after bottling is turned into mead vinegar, is another interesting gourmet product,” Cambray explained.
“We won the International Mead Festival in Colorado, US, last year, and again this year, for Honey Sun Mead iQhilika African Herbal Blossom. Our Chilli Mead African Bird‘s Eye Chilli won silver in 2006 and 2007.”
His road to success, he said, was thanks to someone who stole his bicycle in his second year of studies. His parents instructed him to “get a job and buy a new bike” and he started earning money “measuring bee wings for a Rhodes entomology professor”.
It was then that he fell in love with the Cape honeybee and it was the start of a South African enterprise that reinvests in the province.
He was joined in his mead enterprise by Vuyani Ntantiso and Phumlani Honi, who help to manage hives, and later formed a business partnership.
“Already 200 job opportunities have been created because of my stolen bicycle,” said Cambray.
He now works with 11 staff, including his mother Eve, at the old power station venue.
The business has trained 140 beekeepers in South Africa and 75 in Zambia. Cambray has also trained blind beekeepers for the Grahamstown Area Distress and Relief Association (Gadra).
The meadery‘s beekeeping training programme consists of two courses and, if necessary, follow-up visits are made to trainees at their apiaries.
“More than 200 people have dignity because of the dream we have.”
He has been stung by bees “more than 20 000 times”, but it was his driving passion that kept him motivated to make a positive change in the working world.
Cambray says he relaxes by making biodiesel fuel, fishing and walking in the veld.
Future projects include growing algae and extracting oil from these for biodiesel production.
He also plans to export marmalade and mustard to the US at the end of this year and there are plans to set up a meadery in Portland, America, in December. By the end of 2008, they want to export mead and vinegar to Japan and plans are also afoot for exporting products to Kenya and Italy.
She is also an experienced marketing coach and consultant who has recently decided to focus her marketing expertise exclusively on the craft beverage market to help meaderies, cideries, breweries and distilleries expand their business and get more customers while doing what they love.
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