When Faye Whitley and Jake Powell got here throughout a bee in misery whereas they have been out on a stroll, one thing in regards to the struggling insect spoke to them. They scooped it up, requested for a little bit of sugar water at a close-by café, and watched in amazement because the bee took a number of sips and cheerily buzzed away — appears the feminine bee had merely wanted a pick-me-up.
This spontaneous encounter sparked an entrepreneurial journey for the couple. In July 2019, they launched Beevive, an ecommerce startup and on-line group for folks captivated with pollinators. The preliminary product was a “Bee Revival Package,” a keyring containing a vial of bee meals syrup that mimics nectar. It permits one to “feed a bee in want” when you possibly can’t discover flowers close by. The thought was a near-instant success, and three years later, Faye and Jake have grown Beevive right into a buzzing enterprise.
Like most corporations at this time, know-how is a key a part of operations for Beevive, for every little thing from managing gross sales to connecting with prospects and potential enterprise companions.
“When folks consider how tech and nature marry up, there isn’t an on the spot connection,” says Faye. “However while you run a enterprise, having the ability to run it from in every single place is tremendous necessary. Even higher, know-how lets us run our enterprise after we’re in nature itself — which is our very inspiration.”
Credit score: Dell Applied sciences
Getting off the bottom
As with the bee that began all of it, generally somewhat enhance is what a enterprise must get airbourne. Within the early days of the corporate, Faye entered Beevive right into a contest hosted by Dell Ladies’s Entrepreneurial community — the primary annual DWEN UK Dream Tech competitors — and took away first prize, which included £25k in tech gadgets and ongoing assist.
That assist has been instrumental within the firm’s progress. On their first name with a Dell Tech Advisor, Faye was stunned on the questions: “As an alternative of claiming to me, ‘What laptop computer would you like?’ he requested, ‘The place would you like what you are promoting to be in 5 years?’ He truly checked out what we needed to attain, after which we labored backwards to determine the gadgets that might assist us get there,” she says.
Jake elaborates that Beevive’s studio tech setup has helped optimise the best way they work each day. “Our studio has docking stations, so somewhat than plugging a monitor straight into the laptop computer, the docking station powers each the laptop computer and the second display screen,” he says. The stations enable for straightforward use of flash drives and easy connections to equipment like mouses, computer systems, or tablets. “We will join to 3 completely different computer systems by the clicking of a button,” says Jake. “These are issues we by no means thought we would wish, however they’ve actually helped us streamline our work course of.”
The corporate additionally makes use of top-of-the-line know-how to host conferences and brainstorm periods: A 65-inch touchscreen monitor serves as a high-tech whiteboard. “We will get the pen off the aspect and begin scribbling down concepts in seconds; it’s nice for productiveness,” says Jake.
One other method know-how has helped Beevive thrive is by facilitating a digital group of fellow bee fans. “We’re tremendous happy with having an internet group, and also you want know-how to try this — to create a spot the place everybody can encourage one another in a constructive method,” says Faye. “We’re capable of work with completely different charities and organizations all through my laptop computer and, once more, from wherever.”
The group factor is a full-circle expertise for Faye. She credit Dell Ladies’s Entrepreneur Community together with her resolution to use to the UK Dream Tech competitors to start out with. “I reached out to the group after I first went full-time into Beevive, which was a scary transition — going from a full-time profession in style design to following my ardour for bees,” she explains. “I used to be searching for networks that may assist me, and I met probably the most wonderful group of like-minded ladies.”
Although the competitors Beevive received was the primary of its variety, at this time, Dell has turned the DWEN UK Dream Tech occasion into an annual prevalence.
Credit score: Dell Applied sciences
Progress and seeking to the subsequent part
Dell’s assist additionally got here in helpful when it got here time for Beevive to increase past their first product. From the preliminary bee revival capsule, Beevive branched out into new choices together with wildflower seedballs, which magnetize pollinators, and a “bee lodge” — a construction that sits in a backyard or yard and supplies sanctuary for solitary bees, which Faye calls the “unsung heroes of the pollinator world.”
“One wonderful thing about solitary bees is that they’re fairly pet- and child-friendly — they’re a less-aggressive kind of bee as a result of they do not have honey to defend,” explains Faye. “They actually stay in concord with you and your backyard, which is implausible, as a result of it offers kids the chance to see and admire them.”
When designing the bee lodge, the couple leaned on Jake’s structure background to create one thing distinctive. Know-how performed a key position right here, too. “Dell urged a two-in-one laptop computer, which we might use as a pocket book and really sketch on,” says Jake. “We used it to attract the preliminary concepts of the redesigned bee lodge.” Because the design progressed, they transformed the identical gadget into a standard laptop computer, utilizing 3D design software program like Vectorworks to create renderings and ship plans to their workshop.
As for answering that query about the place they see the enterprise in 5 years, Faye and Jake have large ambitions. “We’re nonetheless in early days, and we’ve obtained visions of the place we wish to go,” says Faye. One long-term goal, she explains, is to accumulate land to rewild and on which to host workshops about pollinator gardening and caring for bees. “We wish to make our digital group right into a bodily area the place individuals who have the identical passions about nature and bees can collect — that’s the dream,” she says. And due to Dell, “it’s nice that we by no means have to fret a couple of lack of know-how or assist holding us again.”
No matter how Beevive evolves, Faye and Jake have been touched by the overwhelmingly constructive response to their enterprise — they usually hope to proceed educating folks in regards to the significance of pollinators. “We encourage everyone to fall in love with bees somewhat bit and hope to alleviate fears round being stung; we like to welcome folks to our group,” says Faye. “You don’t must have a product of ours to be a part of it.”
For extra info on how Dell Know-how Advisors can assist information you thru the very best know-how options for what you are promoting go to dell.co.uk/SmallBiz or, alternatively, you possibly can converse to an advisor by calling 0800 085 4878.
