Editor’s note: Bee Downtown, a startup focusing on beekeeping with an emphasis on urban environments for apiaries, is generating a lot of media buzz these days. On Tuesday, Bee Downtown was selected as one of five winners in an Innovate Raleigh contest for videos to be produced touting the Triangle’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. And CEO Leigh-Kathryn Bonner also has earned a fellowship as a “Climate Innovation” fellow. ExitEvent’s Jon Mareane profiles the company and its top executive who started Bee Downtown when she was a junior at NCSU.
RALEIGH, N.C. – Jerry Flanagan, Master Beekeeper and uncle of Bee Downtown CEO & founder Leigh-Kathryn Bonner, has some strong thoughts on beekeeping. For Bonner and the rest of the “Flanagan Clan”, as they’re known in their eastern NC hometown of Farmville, beekeeping is both a profession and a lifestyle.
Bonner started her company over two years ago as a junior at North Carolina State University. Bee Downtown deals in the installation and servicing of artist-decorated and beekeeper-approved apiaries for local businesses or offices. Bonner’s bees are adorning the roofs or windows of WRAL, Burt’s Bees, the American Tobacco Campus and the home of Capitol Broadcasting president Jim Goodmon, with plans for a network of 50 mostly-urban hives by the end of 2016.
In just two years, Bonner has earned recognition from various media outlets and top honors in competitions such as NC State’s Lulu eGames. Now, in one of the biggest developments for the Durham business to date, she’s been named one of four international OpenIDEO Climate Innovation fellows …
“I am so excited to have the chance to work with experts from around the world in fields I see an opportunity for Bee Downtown to grow,” says Bonner, who professes a love for IDEO’s work. It was a firm she considered applying to before she decided to pursue Bee Downtown full-time last May.
There’s much more. Read the full story at:
http://exitevent.com/article/bee-downtown-earns-open-ideo-fellowship-160216
