OSERIAN DEVELOPMENT CO. LTD

AFRICA O S E R I A N D E V E LO P M E N T C O . LT D

Preparing for the future through diversification

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Kenya in

Bloom Through an ambitious and transformative diversification drive, Oserian is opening up new opportunities for both its own and other local businesses around Lake Naivasha Writer: Tom Wadlow | Project Manager: Lewis Bush

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daptation, innovation and diversification – three simple terms at face value, but traits that many businesses are having to exercise in order to address challenges and ensure a sustainable future.

From global financial crashes and fluctuating commodity prices to new legislation and changing consumer behaviour, organisations across all industries around the world are having to adapt, innovate and diversify in order to survive.

Kenya’s Oserian, one of the world’s leading exporters of fresh cut flowers, is no exception.

“We face head winds at home and abroad,” begins Neil Hellings, the company’s Managing Director. “The imposition of VAT on crop protection in 2018 has created additional financial challenges given the duration before such cash outgoings can be recovered.

“The Kenyan Bureau of Standards’

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Neil Hellings, Managing Director

and other related government handling of the importation of fertiliser and how it is established to be compliant has done substantial damage to our sector – easily resolved issues have taken an unfathomable amount of time and starved the sector of crucial inputs.”

Outside of the country, a slowdown in sales for crucial events like

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Valentine’s Day has also presented a challenge, but one which Hellings believes can be solved by adherence to the three aforementioned traits.

“Sustainable production techniques and gaining market advantage from them will become ever more important,” he adds, “and those farms that ‘get in early’ and embrace it have a chance to enhance their earnings.”

Hellings and Oserian are no strangers to facing adversity, the company approaching 50 years in existence evidence of its longevity and staying power.

Aware of the company’s esteemed reputation, Hellings decided to join Oserian in 2014 to drive a re-alignment exercise.

“Like many businesses that approach 50 years of existence, Oserian had in some, but not all areas lost its focus,” he recalls.

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“That lack of focus becomes a breeding ground for inefficiency and the loss of the ability to act instantly and decisively. Also, possibly for the first time in its illustrious history, Oserian did not have a large-scale strategic challenge that was of its own making.”

Diversify to thrive

This situation soon changed.

In 2015 the company launched a huge diversification strategy, named Oserian Two Lakes, a scheme which continues to blossom to this day.

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The groundwork involved consolidating three growing areas (comprising 1,650 acres) into one ringfenced farm, freeing up space to create a new town centred around employment arising from the wideranging uses of the company’s geothermal power resource.

Hellings states that a comprehensive masterplan is in place and that certain phases of it are already in motion, including the development of a new business park for local horticultural and agriculture companies.

Named Two Lakes Flower Park, the site now has eight tenants and is able to cater for the full range of needs, from turnkey solutions to basic land rental, the provision of heated greenhouses being a particular draw for clients.

“As the number of businesses operating from Oserian Two Lakes grows, so too will the need for the social infrastructure to support those that work here,” Hellings explains. “This includes residential development, so social and low-cost

PROFILE: OSERIAN DEVELOPMENT COMPANY Based near Lake Naivasha, northwest of Nairobi, Oserian Development Company’s site spans more than 5,000 acres and handles more than a million stems of flowers every day.

The company’s founder, Dutch marine veteran Hans Zwager, bought what was then a large cattle ranch in 1969, running it as a vegetable farm until 1982 when a colleague suggested growing a flower called statice. The business never looked back from that moment.

Zwager also helped establish the East African flower auction, TFA, allowing African farmers to sell all year round.

Today the company is best known for its roses, growing more than a dozen varieties.

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Oserian prides itself on providing employment opportunities

GREENLIFE’S FARMER/GROWERCENTRIC APPROACH In the recent past, working day and night with the farmer/grower in mind, we have made major breakthroughs to present niche products. For this reason, we are playing a vital role in the food value chain to feed the country and as well as empowering flower/ ornamental growers to color the world.

THE GREENLIFE PROMISE Our innovation, product development endeavors, research and development policies, make us as the most collaborative and trusted partner in agriculture, providing top-notch crop protection innovations to enhance the prosperity of farmers, wherever they are.

Our strategy is to grow through farmer/ customer-centric innovation – no idle research, we do not punch the air but like a skilled boxer, we aim at the real challenges facing the farmers. We seek new and better ways to develop and deliver products that create value for our customers.

GREENLIFE continues to build new partnerships with key partners – flower growers, fresh vegetable exporters to help them in the ever-demanding compliance with market certifications. Our major contribution to these partnerships is to ensure with wide consultation, we have ensured that every year we are releasing ‘safer’ products.

SEEING AFRICA THROUGH GREENLIFE LENSES Our vision is to be the most collaborative and trusted agricultural partner in Africa. To make this a reality, we continue to invest in young graduates through graduate training and development programs. These programmes are key in setting ‘Greenlife cultural values’ that guide our individual and organisational

behaviour. Having this in place, we are confident that the GREENLIFE brand will continue to influence African livelihoods for a long time.

THE FUTURE HAS NEVER BEEN THIS BRIGHTER With changing trends, challenges associated with climate change, pest and disease resistance - growing crops and feeding the increasing population, the African farmer is burdened. They face constantly evolving climatic, agronomic and commercial challenges while meeting the expectations of their own customers: food value chain partakers, value addition players and middlemen. These demands are also constantly evolving. However, GREENLIFE is always ready to offer a ‘hand’ to the farmer. We are uniquely positioned to build programmes that help farmers upskill themselves and make their businesses more resilient.

IT IN AGRICULTURE GREENLIFE continues to implement information technology in its operations through the Mkulima Smart Application.

Farmers from all over the country can now access all Greenlife products and services through the application on https://portal. greenlife.co.ke, while farmers in more remote areas can access the same resources through Greenlife’s USSD code *431#. The Mkulima Smart Application aims to bring farmers closer to the information they need, including stockists close to them where they can get Greenlife products as well as make it easy for Greenlife to provide tailor made solutions for every farmer and their farms.

T +254 722 563 698, +254 735 544 544 E festus@greenlife.co.ke

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units all the way to CEO’s residences, medical and educational facilities, sport and recreation centres and the infrastructure around sustainable development.”

Such infrastructure, according to Hellings, entails grey water treatment plants, rainwater harvesting, geothermal and solar power, a possible hydropower via a recovery turbine and a biomass generator.

“Our project has already thrown up some new and challenging scenarios arising from our implementation of a solar-geothermal hybrid mini-grid,” he continues, “but we are not fazed by this and, if commercially viable, we will continue to introduce other renewable sources of energy.

“Maintaining and enhancing this

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momentum is now front and centre for the coming year. Crucially, we have installed our first one MW solar power station and we are delighted with its power production. We appear to have a solar generation hot spot in addition to being blessed with our geothermal resource.”

Social guardian

Oserian is also blessed with a strong employee base that acts as the driving force for the business, be they permanent or seasonal workers.

CSR programmes are thus of vital importance, ensuring employees from both its own operations and tenant companies (almost all of whom are local) enjoy a comfortable standard of living in numerous ways.

POWERFUL PROSPECTS Kenya’s future development hinges on the provision of reliable and affordable power. The country is awash with energy generation potential, something not lost on Hellings.

“It is absolutely crucial,” he says. “We are blessed with a wide range of sustainable generation options in Kenya – hydro, wind, solar, geothermal. Our energy costs, for a wide range of reasons, are too high and routinely reported upon as a hurdle to economic development.

“Our President and his government have made production of substantially cheaper power a key part of their economic strategy. As our Deputy President recently stated at an investors’ conference, it was clear that Oserian’s diversification would surely succeed because of the advantage of its cheap, renewable and stable power production.

“We have continued on our own drive to carbon neutrality and last year took 340,000 litres of fossil fuel out of our farm operations. We are exploring, albeit on a smaller scale, how to finish the job of removing the likes of the few motorbikes we still have and replacing them with a suitably sturdy electric option.”

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JW Seagon uses its international experience and expertise combined with its local insight and understanding to develop its own policies and wording.

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“This is fundamental to our business,” says Hellings. “We are very proud that from the start of this year all our primary school children are now being fed a breakfast and lunch for free.

“The number of pupils has risen rapidly as parents see the benefit of the scheme and absenteeism is now unheard of. With a higher and more reliable uptake of calories, the children’s capacity for learning is also improving.”

Oserian has also recently upgraded its health centre to a cottage hospital level, now containing maternity and dentistry services for the 11,000-strong community, made up of employees and their dependants.

“We continue to focus upon diversification in our employment practices as well,” continues Hellings.

“We now have greenhouses operated entirely by our deaf workers and have fitted additional health and safety safeguards to ensure we are able to communicate in an emergency.

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“We do not discriminate on the basis of gender or religion and take no regard to where an individual comes from within Kenya.”

frustrations in doing business in Kenya, but having run businesses in both West and East Africa, I can say that Kenya has opportunity the likes of which I have not seen elsewhere on the continent.

Flowering optimism “An undisputed pro-business Oserian’s focus on diversification and government, a very stable currency, a employee welfare has sown the seeds well-educated, hardworking workforce for a brighter future for the community with excellent command of English based around Lake Naivasha. and highly developed IT skills, rapidly Looking ahead, Hellings is ardently improving strategic communications optimistic about the ongoing and logistics are just some of the development of the company, stating reasons why anyone considering that a key objective for the rest of 2019 investing in Africa should put Kenya at is to commence the demanding task the top of its list. of further exploiting its geothermal “Of course, within Kenya, Oserian resource, be it in the form of steam, Two Lakes is the place to head!” geothermal fluid or non-compressed gas.

Keeping his cards close to his chest, he also points to new technological breakthroughs in the pipeline ahead.

OserianDevelopment Co. Ltd But what about the future Tel: +254 722 509600 development of Kenya more widely?

Overseas projects are particularly popular info@oserian.com Hellings passionately concludes: www.oserian.com “For sure there are challenges and

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