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Indian man unable to buy roses for his wife, now world's largest grower
There is a school of thought that says that if you are going to get something done properly, then you have to do it yourself. It is a principle at the heart of many a great business and it is one that Ramakrishna Karuturi knows well, one that this week has made him the worlds largest cultivator of roses.He has risen to the top of the rose tree, becoming the worlds largest cultivator of the flowers, after Karuturi Networks, his Bangalore-based company, agreed to buy Sher Agencies, the Kenyan nursery of a Dutch flower producer, in a 50 million (£35 million) deal. The mechanical engineer, who returned to India from business school in Ohio in the United States a decade ago to run the family cables and transmissions towers business, began his unlikely move into the flower industry one long, frustrating Valentines Day. Hunting for a rose bouquet for his wife across Indias IT hub, he drew a blank. Bangalore was a rose-free zone. So he decided to start to grow them himself. In 1996, the entrepreneur opened two greenhouses on 3.2 hectares of land in the southern Indian city, which is renowned for its temperate climate, and began to export the flowers. Mr Karuturis roses are now sold in Africa, America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. With the Sher acquisition, the fourth outside India and a deal financed through foreign currency convertible bonds, Karuturis annual production has jumped from 130 million stems to 650 million. Its target is one billion stems by 2010. To achieve that, the company will build more greenhouses in Ethiopia and will seek further acquisitions in the highly fragmented global flower business. It is in advanced takeover talks with a nursery in Ecuador. Mr Karuturi, 42, believes that there is a large market in India, where Valentines Day is being celebrated increasingly. There is huge potential in India. When I came back from the US, Valentines Day was unheard of as a festival, but now even on Mothers Day, gifts are exchanged. I was surprised how quickly Western events have been assimilated into the culture, Mr Karuturi said. About 20 per cent of Karuturis rose business is domestic, but he says that can be increased to 50 per cent. The company has 40 flower shops in India and aims to open a further 60 by Christmas. Karuturi also supplies bottled gherkins to European, American and Russian supermarkets and provides niche software and IT services. An estimated 40,000 hectares of land are under rose cultivation world-wide, yet the biggest farm is no more than 200 hectares. Kenya has the worlds largest share of the rose trade - 4 per cent because it has ideal growing conditions, including 12 hours of light a day. Horticulture is Kenyas third-biggest foreign exchange earner, bringing about $100 million (£49 million) into the economy every year, with most flowers exported to Europe. Posted by: john frum 2007-10-27 |
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