Senpa’s entrepreneurship roots bloom at flower show |03 June 2013

It was little wonder then that the grounds at Camion Hall on Friday were bursting with vibrant colours on top of a luxuriant green palette as the Small Enterprise Promotion Agency (Senpa) held its 2013 garden show, called Noah’s Garden, to promote small horticultural entrepreneurs.

“Our friends and supporters share our commitment to creating sustainable communities by caring for our natural environment,” said Senpa’s chief executive, Penny Belmont.

“Senpa believes in protecting and encouraging home gardening initiatives through the domestication of our natural flora and fauna.”

Ms Belmont said that by working together with Senpa’s various partners, such as the Seychelles Agricultural and Horticultural Training Centre, the College of the Arts and the Seychelles Agricultural Agency, they were able to encourage more young people to consider horticulture as a career.

“The youth of today don’t realise that there can be a career in these things and an opportunity to make money,” said Ms Belmont.

The opening ceremony, which was attended by the Minister for Natural Resources and Industry, Peter Sinon, the secretary general in the office of the President, Lise Bastienne, the principal secretary for Natural Resources and Industry, Michael Nalletamby and the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, David Pierre, was used to promote Senpa’s new e-brochure, which was officially unveiled by Ms Bastienne.

Visitors were fascinated by the variety of plants on display

The e-brochure initiative is aimed at showcasing entrepreneurs and their products in a digital medium from the Senpa website (www.senpa.sc).
The ceremony was also marked by performances by Joe Samy and Joenise Juliette, and also featured a bevy of young models from Telly’s Modelling Agency walking the catwalk in horticulturally-inspired fashion.

Geornine Vidot, one of the horticultural entrepreneurs exhibiting at Noah’s Garden, said she was pleased with the success of her business since she started just over a year ago. She sells her potted plants, including brightly-coloured anthuriums and crab-claw heliconias, at the market in Victoria.

“You could say I sell about 200 plants every week. It’s not a bad business,” she said. “I live in La Misère, so it’s not difficult to grow my plants to keep up with demand.”