It all start with an internship when he was studying at the HAS in Den Bosch . In 1998 Arjan enquire rust mastery in Hypericum at a farm in Zimbabwe . The farm of Bate and Jill Koning ; founder of Marginpar . The internship was successful and Arjan stayed . From that moment on Arjan has been involved in the outgrowth and developing of Marginpar .
A strong startFlower farm Frascati Flora was Arjan ’s first project . As the production manager , he expanded the farm from 10 to 75 hectares within a few year . Meanwhile , Marginpar was expanding to other production locations through partnerships in East Africa . The first new farm they set up was in Kenya . Ethiopia and Tanzania followed later . Arjan was closely demand in the realization of all these farm and frequently traveled up and down to these res publica .
PioneeringIn Kenya , Marginpar worked together with Kiki Fernandes , now CEO of Marginpar . Together they set up the Kariki farms ; first Bondet , then Kariki Juja , and then Hamwe ( which is now called Naivasha after the merger with a nearby farm ) and Kudenga at the same time . Arjan : " I built up the farm in Ethiopia myself . Together with Rob Koning we spend calendar month doing preliminary research and making contact . Then we selected a piece of earth and start out . A road had to be built and electricity had to be put in . We really started out with nothing . We had to find people to come and work with us . We find them in the city . We had those people work for a day and they were pay at the end of the daytime . The next day , all of a sudden there were 50 people at the gate who also wanted to work . We were one of the first flower farm in Ethiopia ; we were truly pioneering . “MatchmakingArjan : " go under up the farm in Tanzania prove to be a difficult process . They are now about 20 years old , but only in the last few years have they been running to full satisfaction . We started with Hypericum , but it turned out to be much too hot in Tanzania . So we plant 100 different products , hop that a few would work , to work up on . It took long time before we grow Clematis Amazing ® , but now we know that Jatropha , Talinum , Gloriosa , Chasmanthium and Polianthes also grow well in Tanzania . I can already tell you that some new Polianthes varieties will soon be introduce . "
Even though it was a retentive search for suited crops in Tanzania , it is , as luck would have it , something that Arjan enjoys doing . Arjan : " What I like good is product development , helping to develop new crop . I was involved in set up most of the unequaled crop we have in Marginpar from the very beginning . perpetually trying to introduce Cartesian product innovation . I get a destiny of get-up-and-go from that , I like that . I have lately handed over my responsibility for the Product Development domain to Bart Merkus because I have a novel focus within Marginpar . "
Arjan now represent Marginpar ’s spouse farm in Tanzania and Zimbabwe . Yet he does not have to countenance go of product development completely , because he stay on closely involved in examination and select novel crops for the farm in Tanzania and Zimbabwe . Arjan : " I require the farms in Tanzania to grow to their full potential , in terms of volume , organization , and products . It is a extremely unequaled mood because of its gloomy height . Few other multitude develop at this altitude . In the coming class , we will go on to build a very specific range that fits precisely with the region and with Marginpar . "
