Red Lands Roses’ farm in Kenya
While Africa-focused private equity firm Adenia Partners generally avoids primary agriculture investments, in 2021, the firm backed a Kenyan farm producing a niche product that managing partner Alexis Caude equates to a luxury item.
The enterprise, Red Lands Roses, specialises in growing spray roses, characterised by their multiple flowers per stem, setting them apart from the standard single-bud roses. Caude draws a parallel between the company’s flowers and luxury products, noting their sale price is two to three times higher than regular roses. These roses, primarily exported to Europe, are in high demand and challenging to cultivate.
Furthermore, Red Lands Roses sells directly to distributors, bypassing the traditional flower auctions in the Netherlands, which results in substantially higher margins. “The profitability of this business is extremely high as compared to other businesses that we’ve looked in this industry,” Caude remarks.
Read our full interview with Alexis Caude: From solar power to luxury roses – Investor discusses opportunities in Africa
