Vol 48, No.1 Spring/Summer 2012 - Finlays

News
Horticulture Africa News
Appointment
Richard Hechle,
who joined Finlays
Horticulture Kenya
in May 2010 as
Commercial Director
of Flowers, took over
from Neil Willsher
as Managing Director
of FHK on 1 June 2012. Richard has
22 years’ experience in the field of
horticulture in East Africa; before
joining Finlays he worked with Waridi
in Athi River, Kiliflora in Tanzania
and Panda Flowers in Naivasha, all
of whom Finlays still have relationships
with Finlays. Richard is 42 years old,
married to Joanna (née le Poer Trench,
who was born in Finlays Kericho), and
has three children: Emma 11, William 9
and Gilly 6. He enjoys rallying, running,
squash and the African bush.
Finlay Flowers Bloom
at IFTEX
Finlay Flowers Kenya, exhibiting for the
first time at the International Flower
Trade Expo show (IFTEX), held in Nairobi,
Kenya on 21 – 23 March, displayed a
range which attracted more than 150
visitors from all over the world, amongst
them flower growers, flower breeders
and suppliers of horticultural products
and services.
During the three-day event FHK also
welcomed Hon. Sally Kosgei, Kenya’s
Minister of Agriculture to their stand.
IFTEX, which included 140 exhibitors,
offered Kenya’s growers the opportunity
to showcase their flowers for an
international market, with the aim of
developing opportunities to expand
their avenues of sale into different parts
of the world. The show saw well over
60 Kenyan growers exhibiting and
attracted numerous international buyers.
Our large-headed roses attracted a lot
of interest, as did other flowers in the
range. We were also complimented on
the wide variety of flowers that we
currently produce. The event has
opened exciting new avenues which
we look forward to exploring.
30 Spring/Summer ’12
Top Supplier Award for FFK
Finlay Flowers Kenya: Sainsbury’s African Supplier
of the Year 2012.
The prestigious award was made on
1 March, in recognition of Finlay’s
commitment to innovation and the
successful delivery of this concept to
Sainsbury’s. Over the past 12 months,
following two years of R&D work
between the Kenyan and UK New
Product Development teams, Finlay
Flowers has succeeded in extending
the seasonal programme for stocks
(Matthiola) delivered to Sainsbury’s
customers.
Innovation, a key part of Sainsbury’s
commitment to their customers, is
central to the Company’s growth
strategy from East Africa. The stocks
programme is located in Finlay
Flowers Lemotit farm, Kericho,
which offers ideal growing
conditions for the flowers. Our close
commitment to the entire chain:
variety selection, agronomy and
processing functions, right through
to transportation of the flowers to
the UK, unpacking and delivery to
the supermarkets, has ensured that
stocks have become a core crop in
the flowers portfolio.
Finlay Flowers continues to relish the
challenge of delivering to customers
an ever increasing range of flower
products which add freshness and
variety to their current range all
year round.
In Memoriam
David Olalo
David Olalo was tragically killed
in a car crash in December 2011.
David spent 16 years of his life
working for Homegrown and latterly
Finlays Horticulture Kenya Limited.
In that time he progressed from a
job as documentation clerk at
Skytrain, to being the manager in
charge of night duty in our freight
operations, and then on to the
commercial department of
Homegrown and finally Finlays,
where he was the Senior
Commercial Manager.
David was a role model that others
looked up to: always dressed and
presented beautifully; always
motivated; always ambitious; always
dependable; always available and
always in good spirits and with a
great sense of humour. He made a
significant impact on the business
and was hugely respected by those
who dealt with him. His sudden
death came as a shock to the
business in Kenya, UK, and Europe,
and he is sorely missed. We are in
regular touch with David’s wife
Meddie, his three children, Dianna,
Michael, and Lorrain, to try and see
that they have the financial and
emotional support that they need
to continue with and rebuild their
lives after such a sudden and
unexpected loss.
Dancing into Class
It was a colourful occasion, full of songs, dance and poems,
as children, teachers and parents of Rubiri Primary School received
a new classroom constructed by Finlays Horticulture Fairtrade
Association, Naivasha Region.
Finlays Horticulture Fairtrade Association
has supported the construction of a total
of four classrooms for the neighbouring
community in Naivasha.
With earlier congestion problems
eased, the learning environment in
these schools has greatly improved.
Rubiri currently has a total of 600 pupils,
each class with an average of 80 children.
The additional building will make a big
Did You Know?
difference; the children could not
hide their joy as they recited poems
and danced all the way into their
new classroom.
The chief guest at the launching
ceremony was Finlays Group
Technical Director Chris Gilbert-Wood,
accompanied by Vaslas Odhiambo,
Human Resource and Administration
Manager for the Naivasha Region.
It takes 50 km of string per hectare to support
mange-tout and sugar snap plants! Those early
French settlers in Morocco and Algeria who first grew,
and named, mange-tout, clearly had a lot of string!
Volume 48/No.1 31