On 8 January, Dutch Flower Group opened Packed At Source Africa (PASA) in Tilisi, Kenya. The trading company will be producing bouquets there for the European retail market. The site’s production capacity is one million bouquets per months.
PASA has already received the Export Processing Zones designation and is awaiting a ‘manufacturing license’. Once it will have permission to produce bouquets – a matter of weeks – Kenyan employees of the largest plant and flower trader in the Netherlands can start work in a large hall in Tilisi, located between Naivasha and Nairobi. Well aware that other companies have tried and failed before, DFG ran feasibility tests for months.
According to Jelle Griffioen, DFG’s responsible person for PASA, all processes take place at one site in Kenya, close to the source. “This integrated approach,” he says, “not only promotes local employment, but it also contributes to increased environmental consciousness and efficiency in the production chain. With a space of almost 2000 m2, our aim is to create one million bouquets per month.”
