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“I learnt bee-farming at KVK to support my family with some extra income. I started bee keeping  in 2006 says Josephine. With an investment of Rs 5,000 and ten boxes to rear the bees, Josephine started her business. Today she earns about a lakh rupee per month, and rears bees in more than 8,000 boxes.

Josephine sells her honey to 23 districts in Tamil Nadu and also participates in a number of exhibitions across the country as time permits her to. Her honey is also supplied to Bangalore, Kerala and Mumbai, and in all she sells about 6,000 boxes of honey every year. Despite the great quality and a good demand for her products, Josephine is sure she will not export her products. She says that there are so many places within India where her products have not yet reached. She wants to make sure that her honey products are available in every nook and corner of India.

Josephine’s venture received a big boost when her loan for Rs 10 lakh was approved by Canara Bank and she could use the money to expand and grow her business. “Canara Bank is very supportive, but earlier when I she had approached them for a loan in 2009, they were very reluctant. But now, they recognized her as a am a good customer.

Josephine routinely works for 20 hours a day – especially when she and her team have to transport 250 boxes of bees during night time. “Bees have to be shifted in the night when they are sleeping, else it is very difficult to transport them when they are awake,” explains Josephine.

Another routine that Josephine follows is to give free training to people across schools, colleges, housewives and spread awareness among as many people as possible. She does this every second Sunday of the month, and today  has trained 140 housewives and more than 50,000 people.

About 420 people among the lot she has trained have also started their own bee farms. She was also invited to train inmates from Madurai Jail, and today 20 inmates from the jail are doing their own bee-keeping.

Josephine demonstrates the process of extracting honey from the comb	Josephine exhibits the Super Chamber	Josephine's trademark Vibis Agmark Hone	Lip balm – honey product

The queen bee bags the award

Josephine Selvaraj from Tamil Nadu was conferred the 20th Jankidevi Bajaj Puruskar 2012 for her initiative in spreading awareness about advantages of honey and bee keeping.

Jospine Selvaraj's initiatives are not only aimed at providing better health and income with less investment but also provided employment to many rural women in Vadipatti town and nearby areas of Madurai district.

She says that her long term aim is to install honey bee boxes in each and every household, so as to enhance the lifestyle of the communities at large. She is also willing  to offer free training, every month, to anybody, who wishes to learn the skill of honey making,"

She also mentioned that the Jankidevi Bajaj Puraskar recognizes women entrepreneurs for extraordinary and outstanding entrepreneurial excellence in rural India.

Josephine sells the honey under the ‘Vibis’ brand name and today offers 30 varieties of honey like Jamun, Neem and Amla among others. All the honey produced by Vibis Natural Honey Bee Farm is organic and Josephine ensures there are no fertilizers or chemicals involved in the honey produced on their farm.

She is the founder of the Vibis Natural Bee Farm based in the Vadipatti Taluk of Madurai district. She aims to make honey available to each and every family for their daily consumption.

According to her, honey facilitates good resistance, purifies the blood and its medicinal values protect the body from major health problems like heart ailments and cancer.

Selvaraj also conducts sting therapy for patients at her farm along with workshops that encourages entrepreneurship.She produces 24 types of products with honey and nine types of honey depending on the seasons and availability of flowers.

Today, she has helped 420 women set up honey bee farms and trained more than 50,000 people under the National Honey Mission.

Her diary is filled with dates for schools and colleges where she waxes eloquent on honeybees, honey cultivation and other products including the royal jelly, bee venom, wax, pollen and propolis.

She also sells more than a dozen varieties of honey such as - Thulasi honey, rose honey, naaval honey, neem, amla, pepper, lichi, crunch (punnai), coorg - under the brand name VIBIS.

The taste, colour and medicinal values differ as it is based on the nectar and nature of flower, she notes. She is exports to Sri Lanka and Singapore.

Support rendered

Josephine is very thankful to her family’s unwavering support in all her work. Her brother, mother and sister have been great supporters of her work.

However she does miss her husband who passed away recently, her eyes moisten at the thought of this loss. Few years back in 2009, Josephine also lost her 17-year old daughter to bone cancer.

But her beautiful smile lights up her face when she thanks her “winged angels” (the bees) for helping her pull through these personal tragedies and grow stronger.

Future Plans
Josephine doesn’t talk about numbers or growth plans when we ask her about future plans. But like a person in love, she says: “My aim is to take the art and science of bee-keeping to every house and spread the word everywhere about this hobby.”

She has also written three books in Tamil about bee-keeping, benefits of honey and its various products.