What do you currently do?
I am co-founder and managing director of bloomon for the UK. We launched in the UK in February this year and it’s been a busy 2016 so far!
What was the inspiration behind your business?
bloomon was founded in 2014, by Bart, Koen and Patrick – they wanted to disrupt the traditional flower industry by working directly with the growers to deliver flowers directly to doorsteps the same day – cutting out the middlemen. We now operate in five countries, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands and the UK. For myself and the founders our quest is to spread happiness throughout the world with flowers, where I currently focus on spreading enough happiness to pull the Brits through the winter. Each flower delivery aims to delight, surprise and offer new blooms of discovery from the best flower selector in the sector.
Who do you admire?
Mo Farah. If there’s one British sports man who aligns with our mission of spreading happiness and bringing the British people together, it’s Mo. If I can pick one more, its Brian Cox. I’ve studied and still have a passion for physics and although Brian is not your typical physicist, I do greatly admire him for how he’s able to communicate such a complex subject in a way that everyone loves and understands. And Jamie Oliver
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
For the UK there has been lots of learnings, I think most importantly for me I’ve learnt to get the right staff, it’s so important to know your weakness’ and hire people to fill in the gaps.
What defines your way of doing business?
Our brand is all about delivering happiness and for us it embodies everything we do. Our flowers are fresh, seasonal, modern and presented in a distinctive design led way. They are delivered direct to your door on repeat. The Bloomon Way. We make sure that our company culture encourages employee happiness and impacts on the way we work with partners too.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Trust your gut and enjoy it, work really hard and although it is stressful you need to make sure that it’s fun too.