Engaging companies on CSR
Thanks to parks, gardens and flowerboxes, there is no shortage of flowers in cities to make urban honey – and there can actually be more pollen diversity compared to the countryside dominated by monoculture as well as fewer pesticides. Copenhagen is even officially a pesticide-free city.
One problem, however, can be finding places to put the hives.
Bybi overcomes this problem, and generates a valuable source of income, by partnering with companies keen to work with the social enterprise to bolster their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
These firms pay Bybi to place the hives on their rooftops or gardens.
Oliver Maxwell, who founded Bybi in 2011, explained how he got the idea. “I worked on CSR with local community projects before starting at Bybi so I knew one big issue was getting firms to actually connect with local communities so they can really embed themselves in what’s going on round corner.”
“When I started working with the bees it just made complete sense ; it’s a really concrete way to physically bind big companies and their huge corporate campuses to what’s happening on the other side of the fence.”
The response was hugely positive from the outset. “Lots of companies are actively looking for these kind of activities, they just don’t know how to find them,” he added.
Image © Bybi