SIAN ROSES
BY EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY, SIAN ROSES ACHIEVE GREATER CONTROL AND EFFICIENCY IN ROSE PRODUCTION THAN EVER.
FLORICULTURE
IN BLOOM Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Sian Roses Marketing and Business Development Manager Yvonne Chelagat, Managing Director Haron Koimur, and Maasai Flowers General Manager Elizabeth Kimani, about advances in floriculture technology, supporting the community, and reducing water and resource consumption.
Since 1995, Sian Roses has been providing local and international markets with high-quality roses. Comprising three Kenyan flower farms – Agriflora Limited in Njoro, Equator Flowers Limited near Eldoret, and Maasai Flowers Limited near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – Sian Roses has a collective portfolio of more than 50 30 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
varieties of both standard and spray roses. As a certified Fairtrade company, Sian Roses provide stable jobs, transport, and subsidized meals to their employees from the local communities. In late 2016, when Sustainable Business Magazine last spoke to Sian Roses, they shared their story of embracing cutting-edge
environmental technologies to minimize waste and maximize efficiency. (See Sustainable Business Magazine issue 01/17 for the full feature.) Today, the three Sian Roses flower farms continue to use sophisticated agronomy and technology to create successful, customer-oriented product lines, while emphasising worker welfare and CSR. GROWING PORTFOLIO Sian Roses have also been expanding their market presence globally. “We have had quite some expansion in our production in the last 4 years,” explains Yvonne Chelagat, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Sian Roses. “Our key objective is to expand our market share by focusing on organic growth of our existing markets, as well as finding new markets we can tap into. Our market mix comprises of auction sales as well as direct sales and the challenge is in getting an optimal and profitable balance between the two. Each of these two market segments is important to us. Direct markets are more