Australia: Zimbabwe native grows major cut-flower export business
It’s a unique coast-to-coast operation branching out to California and developing its own unique flower varieties to sell worldwide for a premium.
It’s little surprise Wafex’s story begins with a Dutch connection, the Mecca of all things floral. Fresh out of Victoria’s Dookie Agriculture College, Craig Musson returned to his native Zimbabwe in 1987 to work on a farm that exported chrysanthemums to Holland. It was an unexpected career move for Musson.
“I was a typical guy who had absolutely no idea what anything other than a rose was before I entered the industry,” Musson says. “When I was studying at Dookie, agriculture for me was all about wheat and sheep until I got involved as a flower grower. Now I live and breathe flowers.”
After three years, Musson returned to Australia hoping to put his agricultural experience and education to work. At the same time fellow ag graduate Adrian Parsons was hunting for work in agriculture, with both struggling to find opportunities.
So, in 1991, they created their own opportunity, teaming up to start Wafex, a cut-flower export business based in Perth buying from about 50 growers of Geraldton wax (the most common variety of waxflower).
Read more at The Weekly Times
