Flower Business By Edinah Bakora

A comprehensive local company Westlife Logistics Limited suppliers cut flowers; that export flowers straight from the flower farms to different areas of the world, via air, road, and rail. They are located at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport and they export their flowers to the Middle East, Australia, and Europe.

We speak to Justus Magero who is the founder of the company and here is what he says: “I began this company in 2015 after being employed at Swiss Port for a while. During my time working there, I discovered a big gap in the market whereby there was high demand by flower clients abroad yet, this one company I was working for was not able to meet it or rather satisfy a large number of clients growing daily. Therefore, I got connections with flower growers and a long clientele list online and began my company.”

Mr. Justus works together with his partner Peter Saina, and together they have employed more than twenty temporary workers. He tells us only three workers are permanent because most of the time they need casual laborers to do deliveries or pick-ups more than desk workers.

Mr. Justus Magero (Founder). Courtesy Edinah Bakora

Westlife Logistics, the company exports a range of flowers from different types of Roses, Antiqua, hypericum, Gypso, Oriental Lilies, Hydrangea, Leather leaves, and Garden Rose. The most popular flower they export is the rose since it is the most demanded and it has a wider variety of types and colors. They do not export fillers (e.g. calla lilies, arabicum, and Craspedia just to mention but a few) because of several reasons but mainly, Justus tells us that they need a lot of care and are very costly yet the clients do not want to pay the extra costs. However, there are clients who order arranged flowers for decoration and do not mind paying the extra cost to get their themes. 

Flowers samples for exportation. Courtesy Edinah Bakora

In Kenya, nearly 65% of flowers are exported through European auctions before finding their way to multiple world destinations. However, exporters are progressively looking for direct market sales, mainly to supermarkets and other retail and wholesale outlets, thus giving logistics companies like Westlife an advantage in acquiring clients and making even more sales.

In a month Justus tells us they export more than 90% of the flowers they order from the growers and in a week, they make a gross profit of Kshs 46,000/= ($660). Some other months they sell more than this and even run out of flowers to export. For example, in February due to Valentine's day and starting from November because of the Christmas holidays. “Summertime in Europe and Australia, we also get a lot of orders since people are always free and the heat causes the flowers not to last long. Therefore, every week or fortnight our clients keep ordering more because the previous orders have perished and they need fresh ones. For example, this week alone, we have had to export four times to different European countries, Holland, Netherlands and Sweden, and this was a bit strenuous for us as a business and very worthy in terms of sales and profits” says Justus.

Sample themes they create for local customers. Courtesy Edinah Bakora

We ask Westlife Logistics founder if they face any competition and here is what he says: “Yes we face a lot of competition from other companies. I will not mention them because I might get sued, but there is tough competition in this market, especially from big-scale farmers and since most of us Kenyans are very aggressive people, we thrive to prosper in everything we do. As you saw at the flower Expo almost every tent was having flower exporters. The competition is on flower quality, arrangement, and pricing. We might offer to sell the red rose, at $0.35 while someone else might offer $0.33, which is way cheaper than us hence, close-fitting competition.”

They also face several challenges like delayed payment by clients yet they have already ordered the goods, also the goods being handled poorly at the airport, and reaching the client when it is slightly damaged. So, to overcome these challenges they ask for a 705-down payment before the flowers are exported and goods are mishandled, they package them in better boxes that preserve the flower food up to their destination.

The Rose Grande; is the most highly demanded flower in the Middle East and the Far East. Courtesy Edinah Bakora

In the next few years, Westlife Logistics Company wants to develop so that they can export their cut flowers via sea since it increases their sales. Sea exportation involves bulkier and more amount of cut flowers thus expanding their business. The country’s cut flower exports have grown in the past five years by almost thirty percent and it is still growing; hence a prosperous future for Kenya’s economy. Justus says that the Kenyan market for floriculture is good compared to other countries, which gives them a more stable policy for their products and since most companies comply with the Kenya Flower Council Silver Standard, which demands high standards of environmental and socio-economic practice to ensure responsible and safe production of cut flowers.