Walking through Mississauga’s Kariya Park, Simran Jolly carefully places a small wooden box on the low branch of a cherry tree. She orients the six-by-nine-inch structure east to face the rising sun—the bees will need the sun’s warmth for energy.

The 16-year-old is the founder of the Solitary Bee Project, a social enterprise that works to increase the population of solitary bees by educating youth about their importance, framed within the context of their gradual extinction, to help sell bee boxes to the public. The more sold, the higher the rise in the species’ numbers.

Once just an idea in the head of the budding environmentalist, WE’s Social Incubation Hub program helped Simran turn her idea into a full-fledged enterprise through mentorship, resources and connections with like-minded youth. Run at the WE Global Learning Center in Toronto, the hub empowers young social entrepreneurs with the tools to turn their world-changing ideas into tangible action with the help of experienced professionals including educators, leadership facilitators and local entrepreneurs, as well as offering special sessions guided by industry experts.

As for what first sparked her passion for pollinators, the teen points to a National Geographic article on colony collapse disorder—when worker bees inexplicably abandon their queen, hive and larvae. While discussing the issue with her grandfather, he expanded on the importance of solitary bees as a species.

What the young woman learned from her grandfather was eye-opening. Solitary bees differ from other bee species in that they do not have a hive or a queen, and they don’t produce honey. As their name suggests, the non-aggressive species lives alone and nests mainly in small tunnels they burrow into the ground. The pollination provided by a single solitary bee is equivalent to that of up to 100 honeybees. But these efficient pollinators are under threat due to parasites, pesticide use and habitat loss.

That’s where bee boxes come in. The boxes—small wooden structures covered in holes—mimic the solitary bees’ underground burrows, attracting them with a safe space to nest, away from the aforementioned threats.

“Without solitary bees, ecosystems and food security would completely collapse on a global scale,” says Simran, repeating the lessons she’s learned. “One in every three bites of food you eat is a result of bee pollination, and 90 percent of that is solitary bees. They’re really important to the health and well-being of ecosystems around the world.”

Before her grandfather shared his wisdom, Simran had never heard of solitary bees—and neither had anyone else she broached the issue with. Their relative anonymity and vital significance motivated her to take action. “Since honeybees create honey, there’s so much more talk about them because there’s money in the honey industry,” she says. “Solitary bees don’t make honey. They only pollinate. I think people wouldn’t really care as much if they were gone because they don’t benefit them monetarily. But people don’t really understand that they’re much better pollinators. They’re so much more important.”

Simran’s project began small with bee boxes placed in her own backyard. Then, with help from the manager of Mississauga Parks, in a few greenspaces around the city. After that came the real game changer: discovering the WE Social Incubation Hub.

Turned on to the program by a family friend, the teen credits WE with helping her turn a good idea into a world-changing action plan. “I think the most important way the Hub helped me was the mentorship program. Raffi, my mentor, he still helps me to this day,” says Simran. “Being surrounded by other like-minded youth who are trying to achieve similar goals was really inspiring. You can build off each other’s ideas and share your thoughts. It’s really encouraging and inclusive, the environment.”

The Hub, and Raffi’s guidance, helped Simran see the full scope of her Solitary Bee Project. By the end of the 12-part program, her mission had transformed from placing bee boxes in parks to educating other youth about the issues facing solitary bees, to encourage them to join her efforts in saving this vital species.

And then there’s the wider benefit of her ever-growing knowledge on the subject to consider when tracking her initiative's progress. Take her latest collaboration with a local university. The expansion of her project currently has Simran collaborating with students at McMaster to research the effectiveness of different materials when building bee boxes.

Looking back, the young woman sees WE layered throughout the stages of her project's evolution. Beyond the business help, like learning how to write a grant proposal and create a balance sheet, and the friends she’s made and the guidance she’s received, it’s the sense of empowerment Simran gained from the Hub that she points to making the greatest impact on her.

With a laugh she sums up her environmental work, “It’s so great seeing that youth can actually ‘bee’ the change in their own communities.”