| By Praveen Sharma, CEO, Flora Consultant, Pune |
IT'S no secret that East Africa has emerged as one of the largest producers and suppliers of flowers to world markets. Behind the success story are Indian managers who have earned a name for themselves, some taking the place of Dutch and Israeli counterparts in the process.
"For the Indians, the experience of growing in Indian conditions has been a boon," says Praveen Sharma, who spent a few years in Uganda (1989-96). A widely travelled person, Sharma is now based in Pune as CEO of Flora Consultant. There was a time - - till the late 80s - when production bases used to be limited mainly to Holland, Israel and Ecuador.
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Israeli growers, faced with extreme climate back home, set up base in Kenya in early 80's.To them, the Kenyan climate was just perfect for growing flowers especially cut roses. Sharma, talking to Floriculture Today, recounted how the Israelis had chosen low-cost greenhouses to start with, structures made of wood The low capital cost of the projects made them highly profitable. Alongside, the local manpower was trained in the art of growing.
Gradually, the industry picked up and grew exponentially to make East Africa "the largest contributor to world floriculture." The projects were managed by either Israeli or Dutch managers - that was till the early nineties. Sharma himself served in Uganda for nearly eight years. To his credit, he developed Uganda's first project with Dutch and Israeli technologists. The Indian managers endeared themselves in Africa because of the many success stories, one after another.
According to Sharma, the main strengths of Indian Managers are:
- Very good technical knowledge, thanks to Agricultural Universities in the country;
- The experience of growing in Indian conditions is a boon, as we face all the extreme climates of summer, monsoon and winter. They are well exposed to all types of growing conditions.
- In the words of one of the managers, for the same efforts in the greenhouse in Kenya you get 10 times better results due to favourable climate.
- Indians are honest and hardworking, ready to work 7x24. (This is very important in flower business).
- Indian managers are a close knit community and have very good cooperation among themselves. This helps them encounter all sorts of issues in the management.
Sharma said Indians are offering better results due to all these strengths compared to Dutch or Israeli managers. "We have an Indian Society of Floriculture Professionals, which is coordinating between International Professionals and their Indian counterparts. This is giving very good insight to managers working in India to share experiences with overseas professionals," he added. |
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