By Kefiloe Kajane
Passion, sheer simple passion is all it took for Hlompho Putsoa to set up her own flower shop, known as Enigma of Beauty.
This booming flower shop opened officially in 2014 after many years of Putsoa arranging flowers with her mother at a young age. Enigma of Beauty arranges flowers for funerals, events and big cooperates.
Africa’s floriculture industry is one of the continent’s most lucrative industries. Kenya is the biggest exporter of flowers from the continent, followed by Ethiopia and South Africa. In Kenya, the floriculture industry generates over $1billion annually, which is approximately one percent contribution to the national GDP.
In an interview with theReporter, Putsoa said she did not know that she had any passion for flowers because she would always watch her mother who was a florist while she was arranging flowers.
“For my mother, she actually went to school to become a florist. I remember one day my mother had a big event to arrange flowers for and she went to bed and said she would finish off in the morning. I was worried that she would not finish, so I spent the whole night arranging the flowers, and she was very impressed in the morning when she saw what I had done.
“From that time, I started working with her hand in glove. Starting on my own was, however, a bit challenging but, with a good marketing strategy, I was able to get big corporates to work with me. I remember I would I arrange flowers for free for companies, and that is how our working relationship started,” Putsoa said.
She says discipline and passion are important ingredients of the flower business because there will always be trying times, like when Covid-19 started; but one will have to soldier on.
Putsoa orders flowers from outside the country and arranges them, but said her future plan is to have her own patch of land where she can grow them herself.
She explained that, although she did not go to school to become a florist, she felt it was important for her to go to school and improve her skills so that she can become better equipped at serving her customers.
“I went to study events management at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology. My aim was to sharpen my communication skills and improve myself all round. It is very important to always evolve when you are in business,” Putsoa further explained.
Enigma of Beauty is located at Borokhoaneng, next to Puma Filling Station.
