Kenya Flower Festival plots African bloom

Rosemary Kimunya wants Kenyans to have a taste and feel of the Chelsea Flower Fair, one of the world’s stunning showcases of urban gardening inspiration. But in Kenya.

Last week, she hosted a flower festival at Fairview Hotel in Nairobi, which attracted hundreds of fans, including growers, and local and international gardening enthusiasts.

“I knew the vision was bigger than what I had in mind,’’ she says of the third flower festival.

Her love for gardening started at a young age.

“I remember plucking our neighbours’ flowers and my mother was not amused about it. I did not know it would be a business venture for me. It felt like a chore back then when my dad would ask us to water the flowers,” she says while trying not to focus on one unarranged flower set up from our background.

When she lost her job in 2019, she knew right there and then entrepreneurship was her lifeline though she was not sure which business.

“I went online searching for branding items that I could make use of since as a marketing practitioner I always struggled with getting the right give-away for our clients,” she says.

Then during her research, she saw a Chinese flower festival.

Birth of an idea

“I thought to myself, ‘if China is doing this festival, what about us in Kenya who grow them naturally, have a favourable climate and even have bulk for exportation,” she says.

She expanded her research, attended an international trade expo that happens every year in June and visited horticultural fairs. There was a niche and she knew the niche was a flower festival.

That was how she birthed the Kenya Flower Festival.

“The idea was to show that there is a local market for flowers and being able to create a flower workshop to give chance for florists and flower enthusiasts.’’

She describes flowers as hope, a flower represents resilience before eventually blossoming. It is patient and does not know how to compete, its beauty defines it. “Honestly between pets and plants I would gladly choose my flowers,” she says.

Three years on, she is looking at hosting an African flower festival next year.

Flower masterclass

Among the invited guests was South Africa-based celebrity florist Mabel Maposa. This is the second time she has been invited to host a flower masterclass.

“I transitioned to becoming an international floral designer, meaning my advocacy about sustainable floristry is everywhere around the world, often I teach between countries looking for people who are hungry for knowledge in understanding design art of floristry,” she says.

The accountant by training says her 12-year career has turned her into an internationally renowned florist. Her biggest achievement?The MMabel Floral Academy in Capetown, South Africa where she teaches floral designs.

“My passion is bringing light to fellow designers so they can understand this better, if you look at it as an art form or even tell someone you can make it spectacular it changes everything,” she says, sipping champagne.

For Ms Maposa, flowers also evoke some spiritualism.

“After God, I love flowers, I find everything comfortable and alright with the world whenever I see flowers, the love goes deep into the roots, I don’t care how long we have to do flowers per day, all I care about is to spread its beauty,” she says.

Future of the industry

What is the future for the flowers industry in Africa?

“There is still a long way to go because like in East Africa, the growers are not yet selling everything they’ve got to the public. I want a future where growers and designers are working together in Africa because then we will be cherishing each other though the reality is that people care more about money than the community so growers would rather export everything, and make more money than sell to the community,’’ she says.

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