At an age when most children would run away from insects, Olivia Naliaka did the opposite. Whenever the rains fell, neighbours in her village would collect termites, a seasonal delicacy in many Western Kenya communities.

Curious but frightened, the young girl accepted a handful from her father. The taste was unforgettable.

“My parents tell me that after tasting them, I spent the rest of the evening running around trying to catch my own termites,” says the 30-year-old entrepreneur.

What seemed like an innocent childhood adventure has grown into a multimillion-shilling agribusiness.

Today, Naliaka is the founder and CEO of Protein Hive, a Kiambu-based company producing edible insects for human consumption and animal feed while working with more than 200 contract farmers across Kenya.

Startup capital and growth

From a business that started with Sh300,000 borrowed from family, friends and personal savings, the enterprise has attracted about Sh15 million in investments over the years through reinvested earnings, training income and sales.

Protein Hive is now targeting production of two tonnes of insects every week to satisfy growing demand from local and export markets.

The company began inside a 10-metre by 8-metre structure that served as a pilot production unit. A greenhouse followed in 2022 before the business established climate-controlled container facilities in 2023 through collaboration with development partners, entrepreneurs and researchers.

Without ready investors, Naliaka built Protein Hive by bootstrapping.

“We didn't have access to funding opportunities, so we kept reinvesting everything we earned from training, consultancy and sales.”

Today, the company specialises in five insect species: crickets, termites, grasshoppers, mealworms and Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae.

The insects serve different markets, Naliaka says. BSF larvae are processed into protein ingredients for fish feed and other livestock feeds, while crickets, termites, mealworms and grasshoppers are transformed into foods for human consumption.

Value addition

Instead of selling insects in their whole form, Protein Hive focuses on value addition. Its products include protein-enriched granola, cookies, biscuits, spices, chapatis, bread, porridge flour and pancake mixes.

“Most families already consume these foods. Instead of asking consumers to completely change their diets, we enrich the foods with insect protein,