PROFILE: JMK NURSERY
Hard work pays off for JMK Nursery By Matt Ross Imagine realising your dream of taking over the business your heart was set on, after years of working and saving hard, only to find that a week later a global pandemic is announced. That’s exactly what happened to Daniel and Louise Koelewyn after taking over JMK Nursery at the end of February 2020.
and updates to help us navigate the unknown,” said Louise.
For eight years they’d worked hard, seven-days a week 14-hour days, for Daniel’s parents, Mark and Jolande Koelewyn, to raise the funds required to buy the nursery from them.
The impact of COVID had another unexpected positive. It brought the nursery team of 28 even closer together and the husband-and-wife team saw how invested their staff were in the wellbeing of the nursery.
“We got to run the nursery for one blissful week before the pandemic hit. We’d put everything into buying the business, all our savings. It was our home too,” explained Louise.
“We couldn’t ask for a better team. They said whatever support we needed to help us through the pandemic and to keep the nursery operating to capacity, they’d do it.”
“It was incredibly scary not to be in control of our destiny. If we were unable to trade, there was no buffer, everything was in the business. We just had to cross everything that the nursery industry would be considered essential.”
They started to attend NGIV Trade Days, as a means of promotion and networking.
To her enormous surprise, they were not adversely affected. In fact, they got to ride the wave of the COVID gardening boom that saw nursery sales double and triple previous years figures, as they struggled to keep up with demand. “We’re very grateful to NGIV for all the work they did to advocate for the horticulture industry and provide support
14
GROUNDSWELL OCTOBER 2021
“Nobody really knew who we were, Trade Day was such a great way for us to meet other growers and get our name out there. We also took to the road to meet suppliers and customers in Victoria and interstate. It can take a little while to become an established name but we were determined to develop trust and a good reputation in the industry. You sometimes need that to be given a chance by suppliers.”
