A national beekeeping industry may be strengthened by apicultural development programmes, or by the actions of individual entrepreneurs. Development programmes, usually initiated by governments or private institutions, promote beekeeping by training prospective beekeepers and by facilitating the purchase of beekeeping equipment. Private individuals, acting independently of development programmes, obtain both instruction and equipment from other beekeepers, for the sole purpose of establishing their own apiaries. This report concerns a private beekeeping enterprise, Proapicolas Ltda, unique for its inclusion of a technical assistance programme, which I directed in Colombia from February 1979 to January 1980.