Margaret Wanjiku

Did you know that bees pollinate a third of all food we eat? Pollen Patrollers is an all-women-founded startup that works with small-scale farmers and beekeepers to improve food security in Africa. Through our patented technology, we fight bee colony collapse by providing beekeepers with smart devices that give beekeepers access to detailed information about the state of their hives, aiming to reduce losses and improve bee health. Our smart hives leverage IOT technology, sensors, and big data to give beekeepers all the necessary support to keep their bees safe and healthy. The small internet-connected sensor is placed under the roof of the beehive and measures a number of metrics including temperature, humidity, sound, foraging activity, and queen status. Our IoT sensors collect various data points inside the hive, including sounds, temperature, humidity, etc. Data is collected from the hive to a gateway device installed on every pallet of beehives. Like all data collected from IoT sensors, it makes its way into the cloud, where artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms analyze the data to create actionable insights for beekeepers and growers. For small-scale farmers, we provide them with bees for pollination so that they can increase their yields, we work with the beekeepers, deliver the bees to the farmers, and leverage our AI technology for precision pollination. Through our technology, we map out the farms and ensure that all areas are well-pollinated so that the farmers can improve their yields. With our cutting-edge dashboards and low-cost sensors, we provide easy setup and operation for beekeepers and farmers leading to increasing crop yield and quality while enhancing pollinator health. We are the first company to develop this solution in Sub-Saharan Africa.