Who is Mary Nyaga?
Mary is a silent bubbly and an individual with passion for people at heart. I have always wanted to see how best to keep people connected and happy. In all my areas of education and professional development, I always found that I concentrated on areas with service to others. I think of that start journey of my service to people journey after high school; there was tourism, then hospitality (as in how do I make the experience for people great), public health, coaching, talent development, leadership development, flower design etc…. I am definitely passionate about flowers.
The Entrepreneurship Journey
Moving to Uganda to start a life with family was something that actually made me venture into business. The fact that you want to be flexible, but also busy doing something you love was an incentive and an opportunity to start a venture. While in Uganda, I worked for a few weeks and I felt it was not working, selling people’s services while I could create and sell my own. I quickly got to that frequency mode of talking to myself and that’s where I started and have never looked back. I also think it was courage that made me this bold. The environment also played a big role, dropping children at school and seeing women selling was a motivator.
Friday markets were so colourful, from flowers to groceries to cookies to yoghurt. Basically, this made me more encouraged. The Sheconomy, juiced up my entrepreneurial spirit. I never looked back from then; it was something that I got on and off with so much ease. I became bold. I started with a shop (jewellery and shoes), then moved to found a school at the same time supermarket, psychometric assessor, clinic, flower supplier, as in, it was so easy to do that back of my mind.
I think there is an entrepreneurial gene in my family tree. However, it was just starting and stopping the business since; I wanted to try out something different. Besides, I didn’t know what I was really getting myself into. Talk of business plans, I never, at any one time had a business plan. It was just fun doing it. I later on realised that maybe that is why I was not fully committed to the business. What was the plan?
We moved back to Kenya in 2014 and I realized I was in a different environment. I went and registered a business. It was featured in a magazine, but that was it. I never had the run for it. Although it was an awesome idea I thought about way back in Uganda from an experience I had had. I put all marketing to close and I did not think of it again. However, there are times I felt I could actually revive it.
Ultimately, I ended up getting a job that I held since 2015. The beauty with the job was in the networks. You are in an influencer environment to reach your goals and follow your passion, especially when you hear women say; I wish I had done this or that earlier. Then, you begin to checklist your life and call a seating with yourself.
The Birth of LorMar Florium
It is a silk flower Subscription Company with a premium quality and a wide selection of unique flowers you can choose from. The silk flowers are not real, but they are close to the real flowers. They are indeed beautiful flowers!
FLOWERHOOD is one of the business components of LorMar Florium. This is a result of the flowers and the services we thought we could provide to people due to the pandemic. The thought behind this was due to social distancing; how were we going to get to people and how was business going to look like? That was a serious setback. We thought of creating a platform where people could design their own flowers or where people could choose their own flowers for their bouquets, and then we could design and deliver.
However with Covid -19 everything had to be sanitised to keep the safety protocols at play. It is with this I thought; firstly, the flowers are pricey. How do we make it possible for anyone to receive flowers, check on loved ones, condole with loved ones and also share some cheer and joy to long lost whether near or far? At least, anyone can be able to send flowers to anyone in the world. That is how FLOWERHOOD was born. I got the right contact for a developer and my life has been about FLOWERHOOD. Carry flowers with you always.
Most of the flower choices are not grown locally; we hear of the Magnolias, Proteas, Peonies, Maple fruit branches etc, are rare or not found in Kenya. That was the edge that I was looking for, something close to the real flower. I used to dream of owning a field of land with a variety of flowers that we see on pictures.
FLOWERHOOD is special in that it allows you to personally take time to make a creation, enjoy the flavor of creating something special for someone somewhere. It’s almost like preparing a tasty dish, from the time of buying ingredients to preparation to the presentation and consumption; putting something together with passion. Taking time to choose a gift is something special and many people recognise that you have taken time to gift them. This particular app allows for this experience florally.
From FLOWERHOOD, we birthed personal notebooks or happy journals/ transformative journals. The flowers we designed on the app, we saw it a good an idea to come up with three series of transformative journals. Namely the connect series that allows us to connect with ourselves and others through life experiences. We also have the series on reflection on beautiful everyday Bible verses that one can master in their spiritual life, ponder, practice and pray. The third which is my favorite is the condolence series, never felt so proud about a condolence book that is a beautiful relic for the bereaved families. This is actually my best seller, proudly so!
Through my love for flowers, I have also come up with a voice boutique which speaks about our similarities with flowers, brokenness, bloomful, life vibrancy and it is a platform where we speak about real life issues through the flower lenses.
In a nutshell, the inception of LorMar Florium was based on the reality that we have many flowers in Kenya and also a flower exporting country. But how best can I do things differently? I hatched the idea to my now co-founder of how we can have a flower leasing company. This was the birth of LorMar Florium.
Inspiration Behind LorMar Florium
Sometimes, we just know what we want to do and sometimes not. I was that kind of kid. I actually never knew what I wanted to study, but I knew I wanted to take service of what -ever it was to a personal space. So, having run a leadership program, experiential in itself, whereby you ask grown women to sit on the floor and draw their dreams and share with the rest, was one big gorgeous and beautiful place to be. You see, people light up with an idea when they see it as a possibility and they are actually working towards it. But, at what time does that become a reality? Is it when you just leave it in a book and get back to it someday because it will be a retirement plan?
I admired the grit of business women. They know what they want, but they also started from a dream. To put it all concrete, they are also searching for the best for their businesses to propel to greater heights. So, the combination of my entrepreneurial spirit, the work environment and the opportunity to be in such a program was really enlightening. That is when at one point, I took the place of a participant and remembered the leadership program I did in Uganda, and the light bulb alert came on.
I love flowers, the investment is prohibitive and I can’t start a farm. But how do I best get into the flower space? This is where the dream began. I visited a participant who is in manufacturing. I admired her courage and the grit, the passion in her eyes and her expertise. I knew I definitely had set myself apart. I called a friend to discuss the idea about LorMar, my now co-founder Lorna Wachira, and that was the start of LorMar Florium. Lormar is basically Lorna and Mary, nothing fancy beyond that.
Growing Up
In hind sight, when I look at what I wanted to be, honestly it was never clear. But one thought that comes to mind, I remember my Mum’s love for flowers. She would come home after work and plant rose flowers. By the way, she still does and whenever I visit home, I always pick a unique flower for her to plant. Then when I look back, we worked in the flower industry in Uganda. Supplying flowers was one of my side hustles. I love the power of flowers, their build, colours, texture and what you can make of flowers. Now, I know that this is where I want to be, this is my comfort. And to answer this question directly; no, it was not what I would have imagined.
Competitive Edge
Creativity is a thinking skill and style for everyone in different ways.
For Lormar Florium the case is unique silk flowers of a wide variety, the highest quality of artificial flowers that look like the real ones. We lease and change the flowers for clients and offer beautifully made designs with beautiful vases. Clients can change as often as they want on either a monthly or yearly subscription. We provide flowers that can be used during the launch a product or brand. We have more than an experience!
For FLOWERHOOD, it is a do it yourself flower arrangement app. Yes, you get to design your own flowers into a vase. The app allows you to choose any flowers in the app store that you want to use to design a flower bouquet, and to add messaging to send with the flowers virtually. All the flowers in our app are available in our shop. The pricing is fair and most importantly, gives you an opportunity to build/reconnect relationships.
The app allows creativity and offers people an opportunity to spend time designing something for their loved ones. Busy corporates need some time out, this could be an activity for them to relax their minds, its therapeutic, not time wasting and better still, so beneficial especially when we know how much of social media we take in. I always say that it is one of the most beautiful ways to keep a memory of a special one, they may be dying, they may be in pain, and they may be in bliss. Whatever it is, FLOWERHOOD is such a wonderful platform to do this. Even my Mum has now become one of my best customers.
In this case, companies can also design and make it a reward system for their employees. It could be a way of checking on those we cannot visit in hospitals. There are so many areas of partnership and ways that FLOWERHOOD can be a part of everyone’s lives. At the end of it, we want to create empowerment through job creation and skill through our app, FLOWERHOOD.
I was the kind of person who knew I wanted to make people happy in terms of service, be it hospitality, health, talent, management, basically ensuring that people are happy through an experience. A service that makes you come back for more, a service that enables you to spread love and cheer among people. Something that you know for sure has made a person truly satisfied.
Achievements
Wow an achievement!!! Firstly, I have panel beaten myself to being the person I am today, that is learning how to be self-assured in my own flaws. I see that as an achievement. Well, sometimes, I am able to ponder about my wild ideas that I also ask myself; what was I thinking of when this idea came into mind? But I would say that from a personal perspective, having clarity of how to go about things is important. So that is an achievement.
Another achievement is understanding myself; a path that you have to take on your own, those moments when you just want to be in solitude and the gongs are banging hard and loud and won’t stop. When that solitude is what you long for and let the world pass you by as you think of what it is that you want to be. From being a very shy person to a self-assured person is a personal achievement. I would never have had the guts to go for it if I kept it the shy way. Being clear about what I want to do and achieve is a great achievement.
Family that cares is everything and a great achievement too. One of my sons’ keeps tab of how many downloads there are, and he writes me messages saying how proud he is of me, that is such an achievement too. I have made my son believe in my dream and that he takes it his responsibility for my accountability to FLOWERHOOD.
Any Challenges?
Challenges are a way of life. It is how you pick the pieces up and move on. I may sound so cliché about it, but I understand there are things that I can control and those that I can’t. For instance, I control my emotions, but I cannot control another person’s emotions. Having that clear path is important. I’m also a person who goes with the flow, and I’m able to control how far I want to flow. When I realise a person’s feelings towards me and it does not feel right, I’m able to let go easily. However, I ask myself what I did to get that reaction. If you also get to a point to understanding people, you will also get to a point to managing yourself and being resilient. It also calls for confidence in yourself. One of my higher ways of dealing with challenges is leaving everything to God and in that, praying. I have gone through situations where I thought that what could be this space I’m going through all about? And in times of challenges, you give it all up to God and tell him to take this cross and carry it with you.
I am passionate about people and I believe that every person has a light that shines in them, no matter who they are. I believe that challenges also change people and make people behave in a certain way, but that does not affect my thinking of them any less. Challenges have been there, and by the way heavy ones, but I believe in me and the power that I have within me. I believe that you can conquer when you believe in yourself. I know that nothing is impossible and true to God’s living word, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens us all. With this assurance, I know Challenges will come, but I will make them a part of me and deal with them accordingly. I will not resist them.
Challenges are a constraint, they take up your energy, they make life look gloomy, and they become a part of aging. Truth be told, handle them wisely, speak to people you trust and also believe that too shall pass. Meditation is so important. Loving and accepting yourself is also key to facing challenges. Most of all remember there are people who watch how you overcome challenges, be the strength for them. We are all hurting in a way or another, find your special moment and use your passion to develop that mental muscle to overcome that challenge.
Being an Entrepreneur
Being an entrepreneur is a satisfaction. Though it is tough, look how far you have come, but one thing for sure is the independence it gives you, a hunger to be curious in your area of business.
Balancing family and work is also easier. You can attend family functions and children’s school activities without panicking all the time of how to ask for permission. It is also satisfying having a creation that makes other people happy with a service which makes a difference.
Entrepreneurship gives you time to think about your priorities. It is tough, but very fulfilling.
Going Forward
We do have future plans. It is scary but at the same time satisfying. It is a global opportunity as the world has gone virtual, so what next? The most important thing is to see the business thrive, develop more and allow creativity and the world trends to influence the business making decisions on the economic environment. We do have a number of initiatives that would also grow the business in different components.
Individually, I aspire to bring the best out of people by sharing a skill that people can transfer to others by showing love and care for others, motivation, and a can do attitude.
Advice to Other Women Looking to Start-Up
This is where I say, just start, things will fall into place. Reach out and you will see there are so many good people out there who are willing to help, with information and experiences.
Who are your networks as well? Get feedback from them. It may be very difficult to get them, they may not understand what you are doing, but in all, push and don’t tire. I learnt this the hard way. Whatever it is start, believe in yourself. I watched a Mary Poppins show, and I slept half way due to the time difference, it was a treat for myself. Getting back into the show after the nap, I remember Mary Popoins saying, anything can happen when you let it. I have never forgotten this and I encourage myself with it always.
So, my inspiration to every woman or lady looking to start up or have an idea, believe in yourself, know that anything can happen and the time is now. And one big thing, have courage!!
