What is behind that beautiful flower arrangement that decorates the dining room of your house? Have you ever thought about where they come from and who is behind them? These questions were asked by Alejandro Zorrilla, an entrepreneur who founded Verbena with the idea that flower growers receive fair payment for their work.

«From the field to your house» is the motto of Verbena and with this, Alejandro wants to make it clear that entrepreneurship has a social base, the same objective that conquered Patricia Armendariz and Carlos Bremer at Shark Tank México.

The history of this undertaking was born from a social service in the Nutre un Niño Foundation, who help boys and girls in the town of Villa de Guerrero, in the State of Mexico, to eat well. Most of the families in this community are flower growers , but their trade is not well paid.

«The village wholesalers buy tons of produce from the flower growers; however, they are the link with the distributors and some even go to auctions in the best months, which are February and May, "said Alejandro.

So the flowers that are found in each corner stall actually went through four intermediaries and in the end those who produce them do not receive the fair payment.

"It didn't make sense to me that you had a low-quality product that goes through many intermediaries and those who take care of the land only received pennies for their work," said Zorrilla.

Heads of families who "rent to the countryside"

In addition, most of the people who are in charge of this profession are women, since they are often the heads of the family, after their partner emigrates to the United States. However, they do not see themselves as farm workers and prefer to say that they "rent to the fields".

The objective of Verbena is to eliminate intermediaries, have a higher quality product and give a fair payment to flower growers. And so far, the venture has been going on for 18 months and works directly with 12 local families.

Know how to choose a partner and undertake what you know

But as in any entrepreneurial story, sometimes the obstacles are with your own partners and that happened with Alejandro; his partner decided to leave Verbena.

«It sounds very romantic to say that you are going to undertake. But I think that before starting you must have been in a job that structures you in the business area, because you are going to find yourself with many obstacles, "says Alejandro.

From his experience, Alejandro knows that many entrepreneurs sometimes do not want to work with the same impetus and he even advises having previous experience in the same market that you want to start, which could make things easier

"It is difficult but the issue of undertaking and giving my grain of sand to generate social aid is worth more than an economic incentive," said Alejandro.

The future for Verbena

Verbena hopes to have more partners in the future, but the investment of 1 million pesos by Carlos Bremer and Patricia Armendáriz left Alejandro more than happy, who says he had fun in front of the sharks.

Alejandro also wants to enter more investment rounds to be able to continue with his services such as the weekly, biweekly or monthly subscription to receive flowers.

«I have had to go home and see Verbena flowers, it is a satisfaction. We have been able to change the industry and we are disruptive, "he concluded.

Full news at: https://businessinsider.mx/verbena-flores-floreria-floricultores-villa-guerrero/

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