Scientist and entrepreneur, one Mongolian woman transforms bee venom into innovative products
Women’s empowerment fuels innovation
Honeybee venom and its potential for treating illnesses captured the interest of Solongo Ganbold. Her scientific research coupled with an agripreneurship contest, held by FAO and funded in part by the European Union, fuelled her transformation into an entrepreneur.
©FAO
With a lifelong drive toward philanthropy and an academic background in economics, Solongo Ganbold found her way to microbiology later in life, as she helped her mother on her PHD research. It was honeybee venom (apitoxin) that captured her interest for its potential in treating patients with diabetes. With this new drive, she turned into an entrepreneur, fuelled by a contest held by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Ever since she was a child, Solongo desired to help people. At 15 years old, she volunteered to teach English to underprivileged girls. As a teenager, she collected old clothes for orphans and street children. In her twenties, with her background in economics, she started working in the government and international organizations to advocate for policies benefiting children and women.
However, it was during her maternity leave that she began to research the therapeutic effects of honeybee venom.
The more she learned, the more she realized that she could leverage this scientific knowledge to develop innovative products, such as pain relief balms and restorative ointments, derived from bee venom. She started “Magic Bee Foods”, and despite the early difficulties that come with any start-up company, Solongo stayed determined.
Her pivotal moment came when she won second place in the “Agripreneurship Challenge”, a competition designed to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in the agrifood sector and identify promising start-ups with potential solutions for the sector’s challenges.