© International Trade Centre, International Trade Forum
- Issue 3/2001
Meskel Flowers was incorporated in 1992 as a private company,
and began exporting cut flowers to European markets in 1993. The
company started by selling low-value, outdoor summer flowers, but
decided to switch to relatively high-value, indoor cut roses after
facing crippling competition from a Kenyan exporter. It currently
exports 5.5 million cut roses a year and has 500 employees.
Turnover is expected to quadruple to US$ 4 million in the 2000-2001
season, and the company has plans to reach US$ 20 million in five
years.
The founder, Eskinder Joseph, spent ten years in the United
States with a clear idea of the business he wished to
develop before returning to Ethiopia. He was inspired by Kenya's
cut-flower success story, and was assisted by visits to the
International Finance Corporation in Washington, DC, ITC in Geneva,
and CDI in Brussels. Through this, he developed an appreciation of
the market's requirements.
Contact: Mr. Eskinder Joseph, Meskel Flowers Inc., P.O. Box
2917, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Telephone/Fax: +251 1 61 4161
Related links:
-The Way Forward
-Spices and Culinary Herbs
-Dipag, Guinea: targeting the
'natural' market
-Cotriex, Burundi: exporting
agricultural products from a country in crisis
-Tiviski, Mauritania: creating a niche
in camel milk and cheese
-Cheetah Paprika, Zambia: foreign
investment turns comparative advantage into competitive
advantage
-Nonu, Samoa: adding value through new
products