Business in bloom

One man rises to the occasion to create and share wealth with local Kenyans

Kevin He entered the flower industry in Kenya by chance. He did not expect that his first two experiences with African flowers would eventually bring him into the blossoming business.

In the second half of 2014, two of He's friends came to visit Kenya as tourists. They were founders of China's earliest and largest fresh flower online sales platform. During their stay, they asked He to take them to the well-known flower farms of Kenya. This was his first experience with flowers.

Kenyan flowers are known for their large heads, rich and bright colors, large and long stems, weather resistance, easy maintenance and hardiness against worms because of altitude, soil, climate and temperature fluctuations between morning and evening.

With encouragement from his two friends, He tried to introduce Kenyan flowers to the Chinese market. He registered the Kevin International Group Africa Limited in late 2014 and became involved in imports, exports and air transport.

One of the main businesses of the company was exporting African flowers, with Kenya as the main source. It was also engaged in the export of flowers from Ethiopia and South Africa to China and Southeast Asian countries.

"At the time, the Chinese market knew nothing about Kenyan flowers," says He. "This explained why in the first year, the business cost me about $20,000 in sample flowers without any gains."

In late 2014, China suffered from a temperature drop and Kunming in Southwest China, a major flower producer, witnessed heavy snow. Flower businesses suffered heavy losses.

An online flower sales platform boss in Shanghai made a bold decision: he made an urgent order of nearly 400,000 red roses from Kenya, where exports of flowers to Europe had been affected by the sluggish European economy. The order was placed through a trading company owned by local Kenyans who knew little about the process of exporting flowers to China.

He helped the Kenyan company to understand and follow procedures and gained some experience with technology used in the transport of flowers - his second involvement with the flower industry. The deal was the largest single order of roses in the history of the Kenyan flower sector.

With Valentine's Day, 2015 approaching, He officially started his own business. He went back to China and talked to large flower distributors in each city and heard them express their willingness to cooperate with the Chinese-owned flower export company in Kenya.

"At the time, the global flower market, the planting technology and markets were controlled by Dutch people and other European and US companies," says He. "The Chinese agencies tended to cooperate with Chinese-owned companies because there was no language barrier."

Today, exports of his company cover a wide range of flowers including the main products of roses, narcissus, lily, hydrangeas, delphinium and hypericum.

The holidays - Christmas, the New Year, Chinese Spring Festival and Valentine's Day - make up the busiest season for flower businesses. He is fully engaged in contacting clients to learn about the market demand and changes. He needs to go to the farms to learn more about the planting and supply of flowers. He needs to talk to the airlines about the cargo transportation.

"The first step for a flower business is to choose the right products," says He. "We talk with the flower farm owners to decide the products. We provide financial support and get all the flowers to export to foreign countries."

Although it is extremely tiring sometimes, He says he enjoys the job as it generates foreign exchanges for Kenya.

panzhongming@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 02/10/2017 page28)