Out of the box thinking pays for Kibera flower man

 

Mr Talib Ibrahim, Abdulmuttalib Holdings Kenya CEO, arranges flowers for export at the company’s premises in Kibera. Photo/DENISH OCHIENG.  

By Lynet Igadwah

In Summary

• Mr Talib, 32, had travelled to Egypt to study nautical technology at the Maritime Academy, but stumbled onto the flower business by chance.
• His flower exporting company, Abdulmuttalib Holdings, is located at Kibera’s Makina area, which is regarded as the slum’s central business district.
• Most of his clients are in Arabian countries and they get his contacts from an online portal he has been operating since he opened business.

When opportunity for exporting flowers presented itself late last year, Ibrahim Talib grabbed it and made the best of it.

He looks back with satisfaction at the strides he has made in uplifting the economic status of his Nubian community at Kibera slums.

Mr Talib, 32, had travelled to Egypt to study nautical technology at the Maritime Academy, but stumbled onto the flower business by chance.

“I developed a good relationship with the locals who soon wanted to find out how to buy flowers directly from Kenya,” says Mr Talib.

He became the contact man since he was a Kenyan and spoke Arabic well.

Knowing that this was a golden opportunity that would probably never come back, Talib went to the internet to research on how the business works.

By the time the client was contacting him, he was armed with contacts and price offers from Kenyan flower farms willing to do business with him.

“Within 10 days I had four price offers. I entered into a deal with an Egyptian client but my first attempt at the business was very disappointing,” he recalls.

He exported 17 boxes each containing 5,400 stems of medium-head roses instead of bigger ones to the displeasure of the client. But the customer took the blame as he had not specified his requirements and duly paid for the order.

In flower industry jargon, the final cut stage is when the roses have fully blossomed. And that is how his flower exporting company Abdulmuttalib Holdings was born.

It is located at Kibera’s Makina area, which is regarded as the slum’s central business district. Talib says Makina means getting together in the Nubian language.

After dealing with the Egyptian client Talib learnt the finer details of flower exporting. He has since developed close ties with Magana Flower farm which delivers most of his orders.

Most of his clients are in Arabian countries and they get his contacts from an online portal he has been operating since he opened business.

Arab clients prefer big-headed roses and that is what he strives to export to them in various colours and varieties.

“Since right now I am working with recurrent clients, I know every week I must have 4,000 stems of roses on standby. There is always a possibility that the client might want more,” he says.