As a passionate lover of nature, and especially beekeeping, Mirela Tešanović from Banja Luka, after more than 20 years of stressful work in the office and in the field, realized her longterm desire and founded a beekeeping farm. Thanks to the support of the Local Employment Partnership Krajina within the EU4BusinessRecovery project, Mirela has received support for the start-up and development of business.
“Starting my own business, I got the opportunity to spend more time with my family and that’s something I missed a lot before. Working on the apiary and collecting bee products is a great opportunity to stay in nature and contribute to healthier lifestyle. I believe that through responsible and successful work I can achieve significant business results and help development of the local community, through distribution of honey and other bee products of excellent quality,” proudly declares Mirela.
Mirela had the opportunity to participate in the professional trainings “Start and Improve your business”, designed according to the methodology of the International Labour Organization, where she acquired new knowledge and entrepreneurial skills. A significant segment of support is the financial support of the European Union, which has greatly helped her in procurement of bee societies, beekeeping equipment and other materials needed for successful start. The advisory and monitoring by LEP is also a great incentive to continue to grow her business. Reflecting on her daily experiences, Mirela says: “I am glad to say that working on the beekeeping farm is slowly becoming our family business. For now, I have a lot of support from my husband, and we noticed that there is a growing interest by our daughter and son who, in addition to study obligations, help when needed. Bearing in mind that our capacities are still small, we currently offer honey, pollen and propolis. We plan to expand our range of products in near future including wax, perga and royal jelly, and later balm, bee venom and apitherapy by inhalation in the apikomora. When our beekeeping farm develops to the number of bee societies that we can adequately take care of, then I would start selling swarms of bees.”
Mirela is committed to develop the Beekeeping Farm “Čudna Šuma” with the family support into a unique and recognizable #MadeinBiH brand with tradition, which will offer quality bee products to consumers on the market and promote a healthy way of eating and life style in harmony with nature.
