– Local plant shop now taking root and thriving

IN 2019, when people were locked inside their homes and businesses grappling with losses, one business was blossoming. Launched in January of that year, Ambika’s Plant Shop and Shopping Centre is a Guyanese-owned plant shop featuring more than 300 different species of flowering plants. Today, the business is still thriving, with more people than ever becoming interested in plants. The woman behind the business, Roshanie Hanscoomar, says the reason plants will always be important is the same reason the plant business thrived during the pandemic: plants offer a type of therapy and serenity that cannot be found anywhere else.

Speaking to the Pepperpot Magazine, Roshanie shared that plants and gardening are among her biggest passions, and her journey began long before the pandemic. “My love for plants was there since childhood because I grew up amongst a lot of plants. My mum [her sister] and my grandmother they always had plants…they always exchanged what they had for what the other person didn’t have. I was always surrounded by a lot of plants,” she shared. Roshanie’s earliest memories are tied to greenery and the serenity it brought. “Every time I visit my aunt or my grandma, there are many plants around, not forgetting fruit trees where you have a lot to indulge in,” she added.

When she and her husband were building their new home, she started collecting plants to decorate. “I started to add one or two in my collection, like hibiscuses and so forth,” she said. But when her local plant shop could not keep up with demand, Roshanie decided to open her own shop and source her own plants. “I told my husband, every time we come, the plant shop is saying, ‘Come next week, I’ll get new stuff.’ They are getting these plants from somewhere. I said, you know what, I’m going to start this plant business in January,” she shared.

January 14, 2019, marked the official birth of Ambika’s Plant Shop. However, like many small businesses, it began out of necessity and faced numerous hurdles. As Roshanie explained, “The journey was started because of financial hurdles. And I told my husband we’re going to start this business and he said, ‘Are you sure?’ I said, ‘No.’ And all I had at that time was $14,000, and I started,” she stated. With that money, she bought 14 hibiscus plants at $1,000 each, taking a big risk for an idea she was passionate about. “I had a nursery. I started in my backyard and started doing a nursery and whatever. I started to do cuttings from plants that I had from before. I started to propagate one or two of my own,” she added.

The excitement grew as the hibiscus began selling. She brought them to her brother’s shop, where she left them throughout the day for potential customers. “I told him, you know what, I’m starting up this journey, and I need more people. People will pass through your doors and I think I want to come sell by you. And he said, ‘Yeah, why not? You’re welcome,’” Roshanie shared.

However, this arrangement meant commuting daily, which added an extra expense to an already tight budget. As Roshanie shared, “Every day I take the bus, $100 to go. And I leave the plants there over the weekends and so on. And I travel back with $100. So that’s $200 a day. And every day I sell like three, four. I sell out for a week and so on,” she said. As the business picked up, she began expanding. “Every time I sell 14 hibiscus, I keep the profit, I keep investing. I’m not taking out. So then I started to do 20, and then I go into 30 and from hibiscus I got other types of plants,” she explained.

But foot traffic was limited in her brother’s establishment, forcing Roshanie, like any good entrepreneur, to innovate and change. She relocated her business back home in Vigilance, where she and her husband worked to establish the business’s name. Then the pandemic hit, and unexpectedly, it helped develop the business rather than hurt it. “As COVID hit, it helped me so much because people were locked down. The pandemic knocked everybody down. They had nothing to do,” Roshanie said. Orders poured in, and she worked overtime to fill them. “I run out so much. People keep placing orders and you have to keep for them until it grow and whatever. And that is how it all blossomed, and here I am today,” she said.

Roshanie credits her family’s support for the success of the business. “I wouldn’t have done this without family support and my backbone to the business. So today it’s my husband who always keeps pushing me, pushing me,” she said. Now, Ambika’s Plant Shop doesn’t only sell plants. The business has expanded to new locations around Guyana, selling plants and everything else you may need to start a garden of your own. “From plants, I ordered watering cans, all plant accessories, fertiliser, you name it,” she said.

Gardening and plants continue to bring in good business years after the pandemic, according to Roshanie. “Gardening is a therapy by itself. And people growing their own vegetables and the fruits and their own plants, there was more for you to do within your boundary,” she shared. Today, Ambika’s Plant Shop has grown to meet the increasing demand, selling a wide range of gardening tools and accessories, including everything from plant pots to soil.

One of the hurdles of growth, however, has been learning. Although she was not professionally trained, Roshanie devoted a significant amount of her time to developing her understanding of plants. She shared that there was a steep learning curve. “Even though I have a passion for the plants, I had not much knowledge because there were so many plants and there were so many things to know. I stay up late at night, I use Google, I use the internet to educate myself,” she shared.

From a $14,000 investment and a backyard nursery to multiple locations and a full-scale garden supply operation, Ambika’s Plant Shop and Shopping Centre is proof that every business is unique, and with passion, timing, and a bit of resilience, even the smallest businesses can blossom.